Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented Australia’s worst 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 something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred 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 almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
