The Australian skipper has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's poorest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since data was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down 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.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
