The Australian skipper has produced superb consecutive centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended 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 fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
