Alyssa Healy has delivered superb back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
