The Australian skipper has executed brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed 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 statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours 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 fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few 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 doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
