The Australian skipper has produced superb consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
