Alyssa Healy has delivered superb back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after possibly the team's weakest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
