Alyssa Healy has executed superb back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
