The Australian skipper has executed outstanding consecutive centuries to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s poorest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
