Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little 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 ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs 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 Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on England and the Proteas.”
