Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally impressive 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 Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
