Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, 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 clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
