The Australian skipper has executed brilliant consecutive 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 finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”
