Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the six missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“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 said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
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 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries 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 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
