Healy Blasts Another Ton to Power the Australian Team into World Cup Knockout Stage

Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.

The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, arriving just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.

“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.

Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed possibly the team's poorest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain scolding 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 succeeded,” Healy continued.

From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team'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 reflect on,” Healy commented.

This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.

But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.

The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place

The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.

The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.

The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century

Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their appeal.

The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars

In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.

Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.

A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days before.

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”

Rebecca Bowen
Rebecca Bowen

A seasoned sports analyst with over a decade of experience in betting markets and statistical modeling.