Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming 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 undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally 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 total was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
