Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped 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 clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
