Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 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-highest stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
