Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 followed possibly the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since data was initially taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
