🔗 Share this article

Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive win over their opponents.

The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.

“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.

Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s weakest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that went down.

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

Since data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.

“Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.

This allowed the opposition to eke out 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 scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.

But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.

Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot

The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.

The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.

The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century

The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.

In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.

The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars

Instead, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.

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

Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days earlier.

“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”