Healy Hammers Another Century to Send the Australian Team into Cricket World Cup Final Four

The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.

Healy finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.

“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.

Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed possibly the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.

“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.

From the time data was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.

“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.

This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.

But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.

Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place

The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.

The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.

The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century

The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.

The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars

In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.

Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.

Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days before.

“It’s always nice 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 look forward to going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”