Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six chances 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 luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
