Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
