Alyssa Healy has executed superb back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, 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 tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
