The Australian skipper has produced brilliant consecutive centuries to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. 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 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”
