Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 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 two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
