Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”
