Healy Blasts Another Ton to Power the Australian Team into Cricket World Cup Knockout Stage
The Australian skipper has executed superb consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six chances 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 luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”