Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“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 move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
