The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the duo added 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
