Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team 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 ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four 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 doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
