The Australian skipper has executed brilliant back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
