Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 came after possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since data was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
