The Australian skipper has executed superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 followed possibly 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 catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since data was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
