The Australian skipper has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 came after perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented the team'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 said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts 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 fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
