Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old 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 confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
