Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
