Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant consecutive centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
