Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, 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 Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
