Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily delivered,” she added.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps 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.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
