Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 came after perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's worst fielding display 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 an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was key to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted 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, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
