The Australian skipper has executed outstanding back-to-back centuries to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 came after possibly the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
