Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
