The Australian skipper has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display 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 analyze,” the captain said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten 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 said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
