Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked 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.”
