The Australian skipper has executed brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed possibly Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since data was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
