Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 came after possibly the team's weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
