The Australian skipper has produced superb consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after possibly the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time data was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
