Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing 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 analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
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 wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield 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
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
