Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four 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 won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
