Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive centuries to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since data was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, 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 overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
