Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – 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, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of edges 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 the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
