Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”