Key events
Australia win by 10 wickets, with 25.1 overs to spare
Geoff Lemon
That, it must be said, was a display of piss-taking by this Australian team. England struggled to chase a score against Bangladesh, South Africa struggled to chase a score against Bangladesh, and now the Aussies have come out and done inside 25 overs without losing a wicket. And that means their semi-final spot is locked up.
It was a really poor performance by Bangladesh in the field, though. So many runs given away, dropped catches, missed stumpings. A shame, because while you wouldn’t call their batting performance dominant, it had a plan and some sense, and it gave them something to bowl at in the manner of their performances against England and South Africa.
Rubya Haider got them off to a good start with her well paced 44, with Sharmin Akhter Supta riding shotgun. There was a very slow period through the middle when Alana King and then Georgia Wareham kept prising out wickets while giving away very few runs, but Sobhana Mostary was terrific, continuing to score with the tail, and ending up on 66 not out with the support of the No11 Trisna. It was the first ever Bangladesh 50 against Australia in this format.
A score of 198 at least gave Bangladesh a chance, and it was their highest score against Australia. But they weren’t expecting to be chastened in the way that Healy did it today. That’s a shame for a team that continues to be competitive in parts of matches, but against the top side that was still a long way off.
25th over: Australia 198-0 (Healy 113, Litchfield 84)
And it’s done! Five balls into the over, Litchfield straight drives Trisna for a boundary for the second time in the over. One ball short of the halfway mark.
Century! Alyssa Healy 100 from 73 balls
24th over: Australia 192-0 (Healy 112, Litchfield 75)
Back to back centuries. She did it in the 2022 World Cup, in the semis and the final, and she’s repeated the feat this time around. Didn’t make an ODI century in the interim, but Healy is producing scores at the right time. She’s the tournament leader for this edition now as well, having passed Sophie Devine today. And after running a single for her 100th run, she opens up against Ritu Moni with three fours in a row over the off side, backing away to carve to cover and point.
23rd over: Australia 177-0 (Healy 98, Litchfield 74)
The partnership keeps working, both players getting aggressive with sweeps now against Rabeya as the leggie comes back on to bowl, a boundary apiece.
22nd over: Australia 166-0 (Healy 96, Litchfield 68)
On they race, Litchfield with a gorgeous cover drive after a half step down at Fahima’s spin, Healy with a precision sweep. Two fielders converge behind square and nearly collide, as the ball splits them to perfection.
21st over: Australia 155-0 (Healy 88, Litchfield 62)
Healy is charging towards back-t0-back hundreds. Moni tries to cramp her for room by following her outside leg stump, but Healy keeps on backing further away and smears a pull shot wide of long on, then steps almost off the pitch to make room for a straight drive.
20th over: Australia 145-0 (Healy 79, Litchfield 61)
Oh, that’s an absolute botch by Pinky. Shorna Akhter comes on, the third leggie. Loops one down, gets a high top edge from Healy. Gently lobbing towards short fine leg. But Pinky doesn’t move. Doesn’t take a step. She must have lost it completely in the lights. At the last second she lunges forward, too late, as the ball lands in front of her. Healy punishes the bowler with a couple of swept fours, including another bad misfield from Fahima on the rope, straight through her again. Bangladesh did a good job with the bat, in the circumstances, but their fielding today has been dire.
19th over: Australia 132-0 (Healy 67, Litchfield 60) An unusual Healy shot, the lofted off drive. She spanks fuller balls over mid on a lot more often, or over cover. But makes an exception for Ritu Moni’s moderate pace, then dabs a couple with restraint. Nine off the over with very little fuss.
18th over: Australia 123-0 (Healy 59, Litchfield 59)
Another misfield, another boundary. The Bangladeshis have not coped with the ball spinning off the surface when there’s slice on the shot. Litchfield’s pull has plenty of revs on the ball, and it kicks away from the square leg fielder on the first bounce, as what should have been a dot ball becomes four.
17th over: Australia 117-0 (Healy 58, Litchfield 54)
Ooh, a bit streaky from Healy. Last ball of Trisna’s over, the Australian captain is drawn in by width. She loves a cover drive at any time, and goes for this. It strikes high on the bat, though, and floats very high over the infield. Still reaches the boundary, but with a cover sweeper running around, it wasn’t far away from danger.
Half century! Phoebe Litchfield 50 from 46 balls
16th over: Australia 110-0 (Healy 53, Litchfield 52)
And a milestone for Litchfield. We’ve settled into singles mode at the moment, four from the last over, five from Ritu Moni here.
Half century! Alyssa Healy 50 from 43 balls
15th over: Australia 105-0 (Healy 51, Litchfield 49)
Trisna gets another go, and this time Healy doesn’t slap her out of the attack. Instead she takes a single to raise her fifty.
14th over: Australia 101-0 (Healy 49, Litchfield 47)
Stumping missed! Joty is usually quick to scold her fielders when they mess up, but this time it’s her replacement keeper Rubya Haider. Litchfield stepping onto the dancefloor again, throwing an angled bat at Moni’s ball angled across her, and missing. Keeping up to the stumps, the extra pace does for the keeper, the ball ricocheting off the heels of her hands.
13th over: Australia 99-0 (Healy 48, Litchfield 46)
More aggression from Litchfield, in Fahima’s first over. The lanky leg-spinner has had some good moments with the ball in this tournament too, but bowls a floaty delivery that gives Litchfield so much time to come down the pitch, meet it, and lift it over long off. That’s followed by Healy also charging, and once again dragging across the line a bit but hitting it well enough for four.
12th over: Australia 86-0 (Healy 43, Litchfield 38)
Good over from Ritu Moni, with her seamers. On a length, then in at the feet, then fielding well off her own bowling. Litchfield takes three balls to get off strike. Healy survives an lbw shout, going down leg, but it beat the bat at least.
11th over: Australia 85-0 (Healy 43, Litchfield 37)
Rabeya with the bad luck as the bowler now, Litchfield edging through a vacant slip. Ritu Moni chases back and gets a hand to the ball on the slide, but knocks it into the path of her own body and then to the rope.
10th over: Australia 78-0 (Healy 41, Litchfield 32)
Oh, missed! Not sure you can call it a drop, Fahima at midwicket barely gets a finger to it, but might have been slow to react. Healy pulls Ritu Moni hard, in the air, above head height for Fahima, but had the fielder jumped at the right time she would have reached that. Whether she would have held it, at the pace it was travelling, is another matter. Might have been another player off with a finger injury. Healy follows up with a bottom edge past the keeper for four more.
9th over: Australia 65-0 (Healy 30, Litchfield 30)
Another boundary to end Rabeya’s over. This is more of a smear from Healy, off a length through wide long on, but her bat speed is fast enough to set it racing, even if it wasn’t the most crisp contact.
8th over: Australia 59-0 (Healy 25, Litchfield 29)
Another big over, three boundaries for Litchfield. Clear mentality from Australia to avoid doing what South Africa did, which was to let Bangladesh’s bowlers get into a groove and keep the scoring rate down. Litchfield comes across her stumps and kneels, I wonder if she was thinking of sweeping first? Looks like she adjusts somewhat while on the move, and ends up scooping the ball over her shoulder away through fine leg for four.
Following that she drives one through cover that sees Sharmin Akhter leave the field injured, the ball spinning off the turf and clipping one of her digits painfully on the way through her, away to the cover boundary. Joty is annoyed at the misfield but an injured player would be a bigger problem. To end the over, Litchfield skips down and drives a ball with lavish inside-out motion through wide long off. The ball was curving in at her, it took perfect timing to send it away on that trajectory, needing the bat to come inside the line of the ball as she moved to leg to make that happen.
7th over: Australia 46-0 (Healy 24, Litchfield 17)
Back down goes the hammer, though. Rabeya Khan, who has been influential for Bangladesh with her leg breaks, gets cracked through point twice, once by each batter, right-hander then left-hander backing away to make space and attack deliveries that aren’t all that short.
6th over: Australia 37-0 (Healy 19, Litchfield 13)
Nishita Akhter, the off-spinner, calms things down with an over conceding two. Would be interested to see a sound graph on Litchfield’s glove there, she reverse-swept and missed a ball that Joty dropped behind the stumps, but it was very close to the fabric of the top of the glove.
5th over: Australia 35-0 (Healy 18, Litchfield 12)
Thanks Megan. Bowling change in the commentary chair, Geoff Lemon here lobbing in, and just in time for a couple of mighty Healy strikes. Trisna is the bowler, who did so well with the bat at No11 for Bangladesh, but her bowling gets met here. Left-arm seam, a bit of swing into the pads of the right-hander from over the wicket, but the slower pace and the standard length mean that Healy can clear the front leg and whip across the line of the ball to drop-kick it over long on, then over midwicket. Trisna comes around the wicket to change things up, but that muddles her radar and she bowls five wides past the pads. Stays around the wicket, drops a little shorter, and Healy thumps the pull! Three boundaries off the bat, one from extras, and while Trisna ends the over well by squaring up the batter for a leading edge, the over costs 18.
4th over: Australia 17-0 (Healy 6, Litchfield 11)
Healy starts Nishi’s second over with a nice single down the ground and Litchfield keeps the strike rotating, taking her feet right to the ball. Healy gets into position early to create a low full toss and paddles it away for four – her first boundary for the match. She goes after it next ball, attempting a big slash, but Nishi beats the bat and Healy looks a little frustrated at her misjudgement of the pace.
3rd over: Australia 11-0 (Healy 1, Litchfield 10)
Trisna continues and she lures Litchfield in with a lack of pace and gets her a little tangled. Litchfield adjusts her footwork next ball and that helps her get her eye in for a slog down to the boundary for the first four of the innings. She tries a similar shot again and this one looks to be saved on the boundary, but on replay it’s also ruled to be a four.
2nd over: Australia 3-0 (Healy 1, Litchfield 2)
Litchfield gets her first share of the strike, facing Nishita Akter Nishi who is opening from the other end. She’s bowling with a cap on, which is always one of my favourite things to see. Litchfield gets herself and Australia off the mark with a drive to long off for a single. Healy gets her first run with a very similar shot a couple of balls later. A good start from Nishi as well, just three runs from her over.
1st over: Australia 0-0 (Healy 0, Litchfield 0)
Healy takes strike first to Trisna who takes the new ball in her first match of this World Cup and it’s a defensive shot to get the innings underway. There could be a temptation to try to knock these runs over quickly and for a net run rate boost, but making sure they get the win will be first and foremost in their minds. A maiden to start us off, well bowled by Trisna.
The teams are preparing to head back out into the middle – not long now until the second innings is underway.
Things have cooled off quite a bit at Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium following the sunset and conditions will be much more pleasant out in the middle. Aaron Finch in commentary tells us that the dew factor comes into play at about 7:30pm, which is a little under an hour away. This will make things trickier for the bowlers, just to throw another challenge Bangladesh’s way!
Some nice viewing figures from the ICC for this tournament so far, hopefully this continues to rise throughout the World Cup.
This was a great catch by Mooney to dismiss Fahima – worth a watch if you missed it live.
Bangladesh sets Australia 199 runs for victory
Well, what a fascinating innings that was. Bangladesh clearly had a plan to not go too hard and throw their wickets away, playing patiently throughout the power play to lose just one wicket. However, the wickets fell more regularly after that and Bangladesh were unable to launch from the platform they had created. Australia created plenty of dot ball pressure to keep the wickets coming and found plenty of turn in the pitch through their two leg spinners – King (2-18) and Wareham (2-22).
In good news for Bangladesh, this is the first time this tournament that Australia have not bowled an opposition out, so their determination to hold on for that last wicket worked for them. It is also Bangladesh’s highest ever ODI score against Australia, which is a huge milestone.
Mostary was very impressive with her 66* from 80 balls, keeping her cool and her wicket when everyone around her was losing theirs. The way she was able to unleash in the final over, following a long period of patient play, guided her team to a total that could be defendable if they bowl well.
Australia are certainly on top at this stage of the game, but if Bangladesh execute their bowling plans to perfection, they’re not out of the running just yet. It’s sure to be an exciting second innings, so stay with us!
50th over: Bangladesh 198-9 (Mostary 66, Trisna 1)
Gardner bowls the last over for Australia and Mostary starts it by heaving one over the infield, where it bounces in and out of the hands of a diving Sutherland. The next ball she goes for it again, this time Wareham goes for the catch, but it evades her to reach the boundary. Mostary continues to play her shots and runs a risky two. There’s an appeal for a run out, but the third umpire judges that she has just made her ground. They run another tight two and finish with a single for a great final over, with 11 runs from it.
49th over: Bangladesh 187-9 (Mostary 55, Trisna 1)
Not the best start to Wareham’s final over, with five wides down the leg side. Wareham isn’t happy, she thinks it’s clipped Trisna on the way through. Trisna then darts through for a single and Mostary gets deep in her crease next ball to create some space and send it over deep mid wicket for four. A good over for Bangladesh.
48th over: Bangladesh 176-9 (Mostary 50, Trisna 0)
Gardner is back to try to take this final wicket. She starts around the wicket, but her first two balls are called wide, just drifting down leg side. She adjusts her line and forces Mostary to defend. Mostary slashes at one that’s a little wider down the off side and sends it to the boundary past third to bring up her half-century. There’s a big mix up between the batters and they’re both stranded, but a panicked throw from Brown saves them from the final wicket falling.
47th over: Bangladesh 170-9 (Mostary 46, Trisna 0)
Wareham continues and she creates another chance early, but Mostary’s edge flies past Mooney at first slip and races away to the boundary. That makes Mostary Bangladesh’s highest scorer for the day. There’s another little mix up with the running, with Trisna not backing up, but they dash through and get the single.
46th over: Bangladesh 165-9 (Mostary 41, Trisna 0)
Sutherland comes on for her last over of today. Again she bowls a wider line to get the batter reaching, but Mostary does it well with a cut shot for a nice single. Nishi manages to get off the mark with a pull shot on the short ball. Litchfield makes a diving save to attempt a run out, but the batters just make their ground. Next ball Sutherland picks up Nishi’s wicket – another great spell from her.
WICKET! Nishi lbw Sutherland 1 (Bangladesh 165-9)
Sutherland has been asking questions of the batters all day and this time she gets Nishi stuck in her crease and gets her on the pads. The umpire gives it not out, but the Australians don’t miss the chance to review this time and ball tracking shows that she has to go.
45th over: Bangladesh 162-8 (Mostary 39, Nishi 0)
Rabeya retains the strike to start Wareham’s fifth over. There’s immediately a lot of turn, which gets Rabeya all turned around. She goes after the next ball, but only succeeds in lobbing it up to Gardner. Nishi comes to the crease and plays cautiously. It’s a wicket maiden for Wareham.
WICKET! Rabeya c Gardner b Wareham 6 (Bangladesh 162-8)
Rabeya gets down sweeping to try to get Wareham away, but she mistimes it and Gardner comes in a few steps from the boundary to take a regulation catch.
44th over: Bangladesh 162-7 (Mostary 39, Rabeya 6)
Sutherland starts her ninth over with a wider delivery at a very full length, which gets Rabeya reaching, but it beats the bat and doesn’t get the edge Sutherland was hoping for. The next ball drifts down leg side and is given a wide, much to Healy’s consternation. Sutherland fights back with three more dots, just building the pressure on Rabeya early in her innings. But late in the over she is able to find the shot she wants, a beautiful cover drive that sails down to the boundary for four.
