Alyssa Healy has executed superb consecutive centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly the team's weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team 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 really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
