Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team at the 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 fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, 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 in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
