Alyssa Healy Fires a Second Century to Send the Australian Team into Cricket World Cup Final Four
Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive centuries to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 followed possibly the team's shoddiest display 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 wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team'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 something we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries 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.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”