Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
