Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 came after possibly the team's poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
