Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
