Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 came after possibly the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
Since data was initially taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
