Alyssa Healy has delivered superb back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated team 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 fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best 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 chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Stars
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded 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 overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face England and South Africa.”
