Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”
