The Australian skipper has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed possibly the team's shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s worst 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 reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
