The Australian skipper has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.
“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 statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries 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 a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
