Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple 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 batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“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 said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record 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 easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
