The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories 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 century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced 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 Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”
