Alyssa Healy has executed superb consecutive centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
