Alyssa Healy has executed superb back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in 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 tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
