Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder 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 Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
