The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 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 move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
