Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant consecutive centuries to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
