Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive centuries to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries 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 Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
