The Australian skipper has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
