Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side 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 Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
