The Australian skipper has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, 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 unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side 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 Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
