Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the six chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
