Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 came after possibly the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side 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 World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
