Alyssa Healy Hammers a Second Ton to Send the Australian Team into Cricket World Cup Final Four
The Australian skipper has executed outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly the team's poorest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”