Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back centuries to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 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 half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
