The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 came after possibly the team's weakest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on England and the Proteas.”
