The Australian skipper has delivered superb consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought 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 move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase 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 eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
