Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
