Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 came after perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
