Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
