Photo Credit: ICC
Opener Alyssa Healy said she was happy to score “scratchy” runs as she helped Australia beat Pakistan by seven wickets to record a second successive victory at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022.
After making 28 in the thrilling 12-run win over reigning champions England first up, Healy broke the back of the chase with 72 to set Australia well on their way to victory at the Bay Oval in Tauranga.
Pakistan had set the 2013 winners just 191 to win as despite 78 not out from captain Bismah Maroof, a slow scoring rate and early wickets hampered their progress.
Healy spent over 100 minutes at the crease in her 79-ball knock and was relieved to grind out some runs after a gruelling double net session in preparation yesterday, as well as not feeling at her fluent best out in the middle.
She said: “I was exhausted doing a double rotation in the nets, I was absolutely. The wickets were actually pretty similar.
“They ragged a little bit yesterday, so that was good and it didn’t feel comfortable at any point today.
“So I guess that’s a positive for me leading into the rest of the tournament – to back myself to make those scratchy runs and hopefully when things get going I can get some more flow about my batting and bat like I know I can.”
After crossing the 300 barrier against England and winning with 15.2 overs to spare today, Australia’s batting line-up has shown plenty of form in the early stages of the World Cup in neighbouring New Zealand.
And wicket-keeper Healy insisted the side back their star-studded top six to get plenty of runs on the board to help them maintain their winning start to the competition.
She added: “We can’t all be firing at one point in time, but we back ourselves to pick up where someone else left off.
“That’s just the beauty of our line-up that we take the pressure off one another and it’s a really, really strong top six, and then you throw in what we’ve got after that, and it’s a really explosive, middle and low order.
“So it is our strength and we back our bowling attack to be able to defend whatever our batting group can get.
“We’re playing some really good cricket and hopefully we can continue doing that right through the tournament.”
Pakistan skipper Bismah shared a 99-run stand with Aliya Riaz, who made 53 off 109 balls, for the fifth wicket after her side were reeling at 44 for four inside 13 overs.
But the pair steadied the ship and although they were unable to reach a high enough total to truly trouble in-form Australia, Bismah was pleased she was able to bat through the overs.
She made her country’s second highest ever score at the World Cup and celebrated her first half century since returning from maternity leave in front of her six-month-old baby Fatima on International Women’s Day.
Bismah said: “I think when batting we gave away too many wickets early on. But the partnership with Aliya, we wanted to take it deep and I think we got a decent total after the start we had.
“I think the way myself and Aliya batted that was positive. We talked in the meeting about someone in the top order needs to go and bat deep and that was a positive sign from us today.
“After the comeback, it was very important for me to perform and it was very special for me as my mother and daughter were here, so I wanted to make it count.”
