Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 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 goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six missed catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring 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 maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
