The Australian skipper has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward 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 Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
