Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two 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 delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities represented Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
