Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple 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 bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 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 achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
