Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed possibly Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six chances 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,” she added.
From the time data was first taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, 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 reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs 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 easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
