Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back centuries to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
