Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
