The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
Since data was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
