Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display 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 something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
