Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled 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.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
