Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly Australia’s shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance 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 time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
