The Australian skipper has executed brilliant back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained 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 combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated team at the 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 exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
