Alyssa Healy Fires Another Hundred to Propel Australia into Cricket World Cup Semi-Finals
The Australian skipper has executed superb back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 came after possibly the team's shoddiest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary 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 maidens, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”