The Australian skipper has produced outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed possibly the team's poorest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping 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 batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
