Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise 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 criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
