Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy remained not out on 113, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
