Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
