The Australian skipper has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket 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 Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
