Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, 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 score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
