Alyssa Healy has executed superb back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since data was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden 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 Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four 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 Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
