Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since data was first taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup 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 King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
