Alyssa Healy Blasts Another Century to Power the Australian Team into Cricket World Cup Knockout Stage
Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 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 chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”