Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” 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 One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
