Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s poorest 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 reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
