Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's worst 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 an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy spilled the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
