Photo Credit: ICC
Australia’s plan for world domination is right on course, said Alyssa Healy as her 129 helped Australia to a 157-run win over the West Indies in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 semi-final.
Healy and Rachael Haynes put on 216 for the first wicket as Australia posted 305 for three, a record for a World Cup knockout game despite the match being shortened to 45 overs due to early rain.
The West Indies never looked like chasing the total down and ended on 148 for eight with Anisa Mohammed and Chinelle Henry unable to take the field due to injury and illness.
Healy said: “It’s a great thing, for our group to be in a one-day World Cup final, it’s exactly where we wanted to be when we landed in New Zealand.
“We knew we wanted to be in Christchurch on the 3rd of April, and we were going to do everything we possibly could to get there, and I think we’ve played some unbelievable cricket throughout these last few weeks with everything that’s been thrown at us as well.
“Wellington’s a really interesting place to play cricket, so it’s been an enjoyable experience coming to the ground every day and different conditions being thrown at us.
“I’m just really proud of this group and hopefully we can put it all together one more time on Sunday.”
Australia had said they were missing a perfect game despite going unbeaten in the group stages, but Healy believes they found one to advance to their seventh one-day World Cup final.
She said: “It’s probably exactly what we’ve been searching for this whole World Cup, which was awesome.
“I guess to be able to do it on the big stage and the pressure as a group was really pleasing and hopefully we can do it once more on Sunday.”
Healy shrugged off the tag of big-game player and was also unfazed to learn this was her first hundred in a World Cup.
But she took delight in helping her side into what will be her maiden fifty-over World Cup final with either England or South Africa joining them tomorrow.
She added: “I wasn’t aware of that stat [maiden World Cup hundred], so it hasn’t really been a source of frustration.
“I’ve managed to find ways to get myself out through this World Cup that is probably more of a frustration.
“For me today to be able to go on and just help the team get to a big total and build a really good score on what wasn’t exactly the flattest wicket going around, it was doing a bit, so that was probably more pleasing than anything else.”
For the West Indies, their remarkable run has come to an end – the Maroon Warriors qualified for the knockout stages thanks to a defeat for India at the hands of South Africa in the final group game.
But their leading run-scorer and wicket-taker Hayley Matthews believes there are plenty of positives to be taken from their campaign in New Zealand.
She said: “Obviously we would have liked to go further, but I think looking back on this team’s journey, playing a series against South Africa last year, getting thrashed in that.
“Even in terms of individual growth, we’ve seen so many of our players taking steps at becoming better players and becoming more consistent and there’s just so many positives that we can take from this tournament for us, which is really heartening to see.
“Beating a team like New Zealand and then being able to beat a team like England right after these are things that we couldn’t imagine doing a year ago.
“It’s just really, really good to be a part of the growth that this team has had over the last year and I genuinely do think that if we continue moving in this direction it is only bigger things for us.
“We speak about the advantages that some of the other teams would have over us like Australia or England, with their domestic structure and the amount of talent that they have to pull from within their pools, and then you look at us competing against teams like that.
“It just shows the fight and the heart that we really do have as a team.”
For now, the West Indies will return home with their heads held high while Australia will head to Christchurch for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 final on Sunday.
