Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 came after perhaps the team's poorest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six chances that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since data was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian pair 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 grasp a difficult skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
