Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
