Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the six missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
