🔗 Share this article

Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.

The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.

“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.

Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.

“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.

From the time data was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented Australia’s poorest 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 something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.

This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.

But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.

The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place

The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the triumph, which places 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 really cool,” she exclaimed.

The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.

Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty

Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.

In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.

The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads

Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful 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 Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.

A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total was rendered easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.

“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”