The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding consecutive centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably 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 the day's chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps the team's poorest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
