Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular 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 luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell 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) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on England and the Proteas.”
