The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented 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 little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls 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
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
