Defending champions Australia have booked their place in the Women’s World Cup knockouts with a dominant ten-wicket win over Bangladesh in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
Chasing a 199-run target for victory, captain Alyssa Healy and opening partner Phoebe Litchfield combined for an unbeaten 202-run stand as the Australians got the job done in 24.5 overs.
Healy cracked a 73-ball century, the second-fastest hundred in World Cup history, finishing on 113* (77) as Litchfield struck an unbeaten 84 from 72 balls. It was the Australian skipper’s fourth World Cup hundred having clobbered a 107-ball 142 against India on Sunday.
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Bangladesh earlier posted 9-198, the nation’s highest ODI total against Australia, after captain Sultana Joty won the toss and chose to bat first. Opener Rubya Haider hit a 59-ball 44 before Sobhana Mostary anchored the innings with an unbeaten 66 from 80 deliveries, her second half-century of the tournament.
The Tigresses collapsed from 1-73 to 9-165 courtesy of Australia’s spinners, with leggie Alana King named player of the match after taking 2-18 from ten overs, including four maidens.
“There has been a bit of spin here and length is key,” King said after the match.
“We were punished against India a little bit, so we wanted to bowl to our strengths. Really happy to keep them to a reasonable score today and play my part.”
Fellow tweakers Ash Gardner and Georgia Wareham also claimed two wickets each, while all-rounder Annabel Sutherland cemented her place as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with two scalps.
“We started well and we didn’t lose a wicket in the Powerplay. After that, we kept losing wickets and could not build a partnership,” Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana Joty said after the match.
“In these conditions, we should have got more runs. It cost us not batting as a unit today and that cost us the game. It was a bad day for the bowlers and a rough one. We are better than this.”
The Australians were far from their best in the field, putting down six dropped catches with wicketkeeper Healy the culprit on two occasions. The 35-year-old also neglected to review a caught-behind chance that would have been overturned, denying seamer Darcie Brown a wicket.
It was Australia’s worst fielding performance in a World Cup match since data was first collected in 2013.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy confessed after the match.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done.”
She continued: “Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on.”
Healy, scoring consecutive centuries for the second time in World Cups, put together Australia’s fifth-highest opening partnership in women’s ODI history alongside Litchfield, ensuring the seven-time champions qualified for the knockouts with two matches remaining.
It was the second time Healy had struck consecutive World Cup hundreds, having also achieved the rare feat during the 2022 campaign in New Zealand.
“(It’s) just incredible to see what she’s done,” King said of Healy.
“First of all, to do it against India, it was massive and she was pretty bloody determined to do so. But then to not let the foot off the throat and do it again tonight, just shows where her mindset’s at.
“And to have ‘Pheebs’ down the other end in tandem, hitting the ball as clean as I’ve seen her, and to chase down a pretty big total, none down, I think that’s something that’s going to ooze confidence in our whole line-up.”
Australia will next face the unbeaten England in Indore on Wednesday.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” King continued.
“No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
