Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 came after perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
