Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the six missed catches represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
