Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
