The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since data was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was thrilled 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 semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 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.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
