The Australian skipper has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 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 player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
