Alyssa Healy has delivered superb back-to-back centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”
