The Australian skipper has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 came after perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
