WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2025
Healy struck her second consecutive century © Getty
Alyssa Healy blasted her second consecutive century in the ongoing 2025 Women’s World Cup and powered Australia to a commanding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh in Visakhapatnam on Thursday as the defending champions became the first team in the tournament to book a place in the semi-finals, with two league games still to go.
Chasing 199 for victory, openers Healy and Phoebe Litchfield cleaned up the runs in only 24.5 overs. Despite the one-sided nature of the contest that it eventually proved to be, it wasn’t without some fight from Bangladesh.
Opting to bat, despite losing opener Fargana Hoque cheaply, on 8, they did make a commendable start, largely courtesy Rubya Haider’s 59-ball 44. Haider’s innings included eight boundaries, even though four of those were streaky edges. She was even put down by Litchfield, on 22, in the seventh over. But as her innings progressed, she grew in confidence and stitched a useful 41-run alliance with Sharmin Akhter as Bangladesh looked well poised at 73 for 1 in the 18th over before Haider’s dismissal triggered a collapse.
The spin trio of Ash Gardner, Alana King and Georgia Wareham picked a brace each through the middle overs to reduce Bangladesh to 165 for 9. King, with her drift and appreciable turn, was especially proving difficult to put away. However, Sobhana Mostary wasn’t to give up without a fight. Having made a steady start to her innings, only to see wickets tumble from the other end, she went on the offensive in the company of the tail.
She smashed eight boundaries en route to becoming the first Bangladeshi woman to score a half-century against Australia and helped the total zoom to 198 for 9, courtesy her unbeaten 66. She was also aided by a dropped catch and Australian bowlers’ errors in lines.
In response, however, Australia took little time to crush their hopes. Healy, fresh off a century against India, took some time to settle in and then took apart Fariha Trisna in the fifth over, cracking three boundaries. The duo brought up their century stand in only 83 balls, by which point both the batters were zooming at a similar pace, but Healy took over the offensive once they had registered their respective half-centuries.
After being dropped at short fine, on 67, in the 20th over, she swept and slogswept Shorna Akter for successive boundaries. Boundaries trickled quick and fast thereafter with Fahima Khatun, Rabeya Khan and Ritu Moni all bearing the brunt of Healy’s assault. Litchfield, who was by then playing the supporting act, completed the chase by powering two successive boundaries.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 198/9 in 50 overs (Sobhana Mostary 66*, Rubya Haider 44; Alana King 2-18, Georgia Wareham 2-22) lost to Australia 202 for no loss in 24.5 overs (Alyssa Healy 113*, Phoebe Litchfield 84*) by 10 wickets
© Cricbuzz
