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 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular 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 bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target 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,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
