The Australian skipper has produced brilliant consecutive centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside 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 the English team and the Proteas.”
