Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two 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 got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“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 said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated 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 Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
