Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
