Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team 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 captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand 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 hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
