The Australian skipper has produced superb consecutive hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
