The Australian skipper has produced outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 followed possibly Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable 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 rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few 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 won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
