The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented the team'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 an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest 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 practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
