Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”