The Australian skipper has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 came after perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since data was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty 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 the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
