Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
