Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team at the 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 said.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana 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 overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
