Alyssa Healy Blasts a Second Hundred to Send the Australian Team into World Cup Semi-Finals
Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”