Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam 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 under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 came after possibly the team's weakest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time data was initially taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult 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 shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
