Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her team 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 not out on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed possibly Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
