Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
