Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding showing 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 reflect on,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
