Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s poorest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team 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 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
