Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s worst 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,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries 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 Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly 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.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”