Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding display 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 reflect on,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest 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 catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
