Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team'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,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the 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 exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on England and the Proteas.”
