Alyssa Healy Hammers Another Century to Send the Australian Team into Cricket World Cup Semi-Finals
Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries 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.
The Opener Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few 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 King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”