Healy Fires Another Ton to Send the Australian Team into World Cup Knockout Stage
The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”