Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly the team's weakest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-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.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 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. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
