The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding consecutive centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, 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 sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to take on England and the Proteas.”
