Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 came after possibly Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
