Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer 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.”
