The Australian skipper has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 followed possibly the team's poorest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
