The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six 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 delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
