Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 followed possibly the team's poorest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
