Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the duo added 202 came after possibly the team's weakest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps 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 manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
