Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest 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 reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours 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.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
