Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive centuries to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented Australia’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 something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”