Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, 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 Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
