The Australian skipper has delivered superb back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 came after possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
