Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
