Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”