Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 came after perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
