Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 came after possibly the team's poorest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”
