The Australian skipper has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after possibly the team's shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding display 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 analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team 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 King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
