Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team 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 really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
