The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on England and the Proteas.”
