The Australian skipper has delivered superb back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
