The Australian skipper has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time data was first taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
