Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities represented Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”
