The Australian skipper has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly the team's poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches 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 got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp 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 appeal.
The recalled 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 slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
