Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 came after perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping two 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.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate 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 official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
