Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt 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 move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
