Alyssa Healy Blasts a Second Hundred to Power the Australian Team into World Cup Semi-Finals
The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 followed possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, 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 glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team 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 before.
“It's great 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 anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and South Africa.”