Alyssa Healy has executed superb consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the six 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,” Healy continued.
Since data was first taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo 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. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
