The Australian skipper has delivered superb consecutive centuries to steer her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 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 an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was delighted 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 place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced 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 accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
