Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
