Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a 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 possibly the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented the team's worst 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 something we’ll review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
