The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant consecutive centuries to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 followed possibly Australia’s weakest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record 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 simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
