Alyssa Healy Blasts Another Ton to Send Australia into World Cup Final Four
The Australian skipper has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”