Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted 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 shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
