🔗 Share this article

The Australian skipper has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.

The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.

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

Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain'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 batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.

Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.

“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain said.

It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.

Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot

Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.

The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.

Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty

Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.

The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads

Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.

Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.

A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”