🔗 Share this article

The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.

Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.

“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.

Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's weakest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing 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 batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.

Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities 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 little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.

It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.

Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot

Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.

The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.

The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century

Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.

In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.

The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spinners Excel as King Stars

Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.

Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.

A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”