The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the duo added 202 came after possibly the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches 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 taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed 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 something we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the 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 said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
