The Australian skipper has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 followed possibly the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in 2013, the six missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled 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 wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
