Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s poorest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
