Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly the team's shoddiest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked 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 analyze,” the captain said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories 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 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
