Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps 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 said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team 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 exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
