Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after possibly the team's shoddiest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
Since data was first taken on fielding statistics in 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 while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Spot
Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
