Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 came after possibly the team's weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there 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 display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
