The Australian skipper has executed outstanding back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six missed opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, 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 almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
