Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed possibly the team's poorest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since data was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team 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 exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries 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-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter'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 side who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
