The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India 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 doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
