Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership 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 was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
