Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the 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 experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”