Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after possibly the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down 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
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
