Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial 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 fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
