The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding back-to-back centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since data was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
