The Australian skipper has produced superb back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
