The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding consecutive centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic 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 going back to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
