The Australian skipper has delivered superb consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
