The Australian skipper has executed superb back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
Since data was first taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented 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 little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score 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 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
