Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed possibly the team's shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
