Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
