The Australian skipper has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six missed catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana 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 overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
