Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping two of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
