Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
Since data was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team'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 something we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team 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 really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted 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 appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
