Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the six chances that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
Since data was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as King Stars
Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
