The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament 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 World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
