The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing 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,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
