Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 runs came after possibly the team's weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It’s always nice 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 going back to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”
