Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving 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 (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since data was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, 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 Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table 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 captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
