Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
