Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding display 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 review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat 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’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
