Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly the team's weakest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances 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.
Since data was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
