Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive centuries to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (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 accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 followed possibly Australia’s weakest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“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 initially taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team'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 an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on England and the Proteas.”
