Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked 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 while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
