Alyssa Healy has executed superb consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, 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 Spot
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
