Healy Blasts Another Century to Send Australia into World Cup Semi-Finals
The Australian skipper has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s worst 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 something we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”