Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 came after perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding 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 had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe 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.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”
