The Australian skipper has produced brilliant consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament half-century 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 Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”
