The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
