Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing 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 luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
