Alyssa Healy has delivered superb back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's great 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 anticipate going back to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
