Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” 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 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
