Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under the captain'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 glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six missed catches represented the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
