The Australian skipper has executed outstanding back-to-back centuries to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest 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 Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
