Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 came after possibly Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, 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 really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
