Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's poorest 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 reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
