Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive centuries to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs followed possibly the team's poorest performance in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden 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 vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages 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, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
