Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial 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 batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped 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 tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
