Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand 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 Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's great 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 look forward to returning to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
