Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team'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 something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
