Instant classic! Healy's epic century leads world record chase – cricket.com.au

Match Report:
Alyssa Healy hammers 142 and Annabel Sutherland claims 5-40 on her birthday as Aussies pull off highest chase in women’s ODIs
Death, taxes… and Australia playing World Cup thrillers against India.
This time it was Alyssa Healy’s drought-breaking century that paved the way to a world record ODI chase, as Australia reeled in a mammoth target of 331 with an over to spare in Visakhapatnam.
An instant classic that swung throughout came down to the penultimate over at the ACA-VDCA Stadium.
With six runs needed from the final seven deliveries and three wickets in hand, Ellyse Perry – who had earlier retired hurt due to cramp and then returned to the middle in the 45th over with her team six wickets down – spanked a flat six down the ground to seal a famous win.
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Five minutes after the players left the field, the rain that had threatened throughout the evening arrived and the heavens opened in a torrential downpour.
Australia bettered the previous highest successful chase in women’s one-dayers – Sri Lanka’s 4-305 against South Africa in April last year – and kept their unbeaten record at the tournament intact with three round matches remaining.
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Smriti Mandhana (80 from 66) had earlier led the way in India’s 330 all out in excellent batting conditions, while Annabel Sutherland’s 5-40 reined in what could have actually been a far larger total.  
Healy’s superb 107-ball 142, her first century in any format since the 2022 World Cup final and her first as Australian captain, set the tone for the history-making chase.
She raced to a 35-ball fifty – her first since arriving on Indian soil over a month ago – and shared an 85-run opening stand with Phoebe Litchfield (40 from 39).
When the latter was caught reverse sweeping Sree Charani (3-41) in the 12th over, Healy was joined by Perry who made her way to 32 from 40 deliveries before leaving the field due to cramping in her leg.
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When Beth Mooney (4) and Annabel Sutherland (0) followed in the space of five balls, Australia were 3-170 in the 28th.
But Healy charged on and after bringing up her hundred off 85 balls in the 31st over, she cranked up another notch, with her next 42 runs coming off 21 deliveries as she brought the equation down to a run-a-ball.
Her dismissal to Charani in the 39th, with Australia still needing 66 off 67, sapped some momentum from the chase, and when Ashleigh Gardner (45 off 46), Tahlia McGrath (12) and Sophie Molineux (19) fell in the space of 4.3 overs, India’s hopes reignited.
But Australia proved once again they bat deep as the rejuvenated Perry returned to the middle on 32 and was joined by Kim Garth – who remarkably played a key hand with the bat for a third-straight game in this tournament – to steer Australia home.
Garth’s 14no featured two boundaries including a reverse sweep in the 49th, and while the pair were largely happy to deal in singles in the dying overs, Perry was not letting it go to the 50th, hammering a straight six off Sneh Rana to seal victory.
Earlier, Sutherland (5-40) celebrated her 24th birthday with her first five-wicket haul in international cricket.
The allrounder’s miserly display through the middle and death overs was critical in restricting India, who looked on track for a total in excess of 350.
Sent in by Healy, India’s openers again frustrated Australia, seeing off Garth and Megan Schutt’s early overs before laying into the spinners, with Molineux’s first going for 16 runs.
They reached 0-58 after 10 overs, marking the fourth consecutive ODI over the past month against India where Australia have failed to take a wicket in the Powerplay.
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Mandhana passed 5000 runs in ODIs as she continued her outstanding run against Australia, but she was unable to make it a third-straight century against her rivals, as Molineux finally broke through to have the Indian vice-captain caught in the deep in the 25th over, breaking a record 155-opening stand.
Pratika Rawal’s hopes of a first ton against Australia were dashed when she holed out on 75 off 96, and the return of Schutt ended India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s 17-ball innings on 22, and Harleen Deol followed for 38.
At 4-240 in the 38th however, India still had the platform for a massive total, which looked well and truly on the cards when Jemimah Rodrigues (33 from 21) found form alongside the dangerous Richa Ghosh (32 from 22).
Making matters more difficult for Australia was Schutt’s departure from the field one ball into the 41st over due to cramp, but after Rodrigues and Ghosh were both dismissed by the superb Sutherland, they continued to make inroads into India’s lower order, who threw the bat at everything and mostly found the Australian fielders.
A collapse of 6-36 from the final 35 balls ultimately contained India to 330 from 48.5 overs, but their total was still the highest scored by a team batting first against Australia.
Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
October 1: Australia beat New Zealand by 89 runs
October 4: v Sri Lanka: Abandoned without a ball bowled
October 8: Australia beat Pakistan by 107 runs
October 12: Australia beat India by three wickets
October 16: v Bangladesh, ACA-VDCA Stadium Visakhapatnam, 8:30pm AEDT
October 22: v England, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8:30pm AEDT
October 25: v South Africa, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8:30pm AEDT
Semi-final 1: Guwahati or Colombo*, October 29, 8:30pm AEDT
Semi-final 2: Mumbai, October 30, 8:30pm AEDT
Final: Mumbai or Colombo*, November 2, 8:30pm AEDT
All matches to be broadcast exclusively live and free on Prime Video.
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