Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive centuries to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket win 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 saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
Since data was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s target remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against India a few 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 won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
