Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches represented Australia’s worst fielding display 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 analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
