Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was key to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”
