Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, 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,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
