Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant consecutive centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“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 the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
