Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since data was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
