Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain 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 pair added 202 runs came after possibly the team's shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
