Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries 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 World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
