The Australian skipper has produced superb consecutive centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving 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 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 target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers 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 display, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
