The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward 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’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
