The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since data was first taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
