The Australian skipper has executed superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen 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 an issue we’ll review,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest 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 innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
