Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours 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 Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana 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 Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days before.
“It's fantastic 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 anticipate going back to the next venue to take on England and the Proteas.”
