The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed perhaps the team's weakest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe 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 the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
