Alyssa Healy has executed superb consecutive centuries to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended 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
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 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 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
