Alyssa Healy has executed superb 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 win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen 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 something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against India a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
