Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
