Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 came after possibly Australia’s weakest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, 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 almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
