Alyssa Healy has delivered superb back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly the team's weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score 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 fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to 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 take on England and South Africa.”
