The Australian skipper has executed superb back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing 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 had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries 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 half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
