Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total 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’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
