Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs followed possibly the team's poorest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display 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 manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty 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 crucial to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
