Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since data was first taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
