The Australian skipper has delivered superb consecutive centuries to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” 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 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
