Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing 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 fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
Since data was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old 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 Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 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 record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder 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) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was rendered 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’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
