The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied 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 fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
