Alyssa Healy Blasts Another Hundred to Send the Australian Team into Cricket World Cup Final Four

The Australian skipper has executed outstanding consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive win over their opponents.

Healy finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.

“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.

Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly the team's shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.

From the time data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.

“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.

This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.

Healy Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place

Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.

The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.

The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Fifty

The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.

The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars

Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.

Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.

A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.

“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”

Kristin Rodriguez
Kristin Rodriguez

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