Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities 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 little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
