The Australian skipper has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled 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.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
