The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 came after possibly Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
