Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since data was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “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 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder 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 chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
