Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant consecutive centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's weakest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
