Alyssa Healy Fires a Second Century to Propel Australia into Cricket World Cup Knockout Stage
The Australian skipper has produced brilliant back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”