Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 came after possibly the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, 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 last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest 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 shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
