Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented Australia’s worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little 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 total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
