The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances 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 succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing 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.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
