Alyssa Healy Hammers a Second Hundred to Send the Australian Team into World Cup Knockout Stage
The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 came after perhaps the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen 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 luckily delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was initially taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, 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 the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days before.
“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 look forward to going back to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”