Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
