The Australian skipper has executed superb consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought 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.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly the team's weakest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented Australia’s worst 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 analyze,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
