Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
