Alyssa Healy has delivered superb back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy 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 berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against India four days before.
“It's great 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 take on England and the Proteas.”
