Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive centuries to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs followed possibly the team's poorest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented Australia’s poorest 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 reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
