The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team 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 World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
