Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 came after perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, 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 needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
