The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding consecutive centuries to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance metrics 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 time 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 chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
