Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive centuries to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated side top of the standings 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 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
