The Australian skipper has produced brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
