Healy Hammers a Second Century to Send Australia into World Cup Semi-Finals
The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”