Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked 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,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to take on England and the Proteas.”
