Alyssa Healy Century Powers Australia Into Semi-Finals
Australia Storms Into Women’s World Cup Semis With Alyssa Healy’s Back-to-Back Centuries
In the ongoing 2025 Women’s World Cup, Alyssa Healy blasted her second consecutive century and led Australia to a decisive 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. With two league games remaining, the defending champions became the first team in the tournament to secure a spot in the semi-finals.
Alyssa Healy and Phoebe Litchfield, the openers, swept up the runs in just 24.5 overs as they chased 199 for victory. There was some opposition from Bangladesh, even though the game ultimately turned out to be one-sided.
Despite losing starter Fargana Hoque cheaply on the eighth, they chose to bat and got off to a respectable start, thanks in large part to Rubya Haider’s 44 off 59 balls. Haider hit eight boundaries in his innings; however, four of them were edges.
In the eighth over, Litchfield even put her down on 22. Before Haider’s departure caused a collapse, Bangladesh appeared to be in a strong position at 73 for 1 in the 18th over, but as her innings went on, she gained confidence and formed a helpful 41-run partnership with Sharmin Akhter.
Bangladesh was reduced to 165 for 9 by the spin combination of Ash Gardner, Alana King, and Georgia Wareham, who each claimed a brace during the middle overs. King was particularly hard to put away because of her drift and noticeable turn. But Sobhana Mostary wasn’t going to give up easily.
After seeing wickets fall from the other end after a steady start to her innings, she launched an attack with the tail.
She became the first Bangladeshi woman to reach a half-century against Australia, smashing eight boundaries along the way. Her undefeated 66 helped the team reach 198 for 9. Additionally, a dropped catch and line-making mistakes by Australian bowlers helped her.
However, Australia quickly dashed their expectations in retaliation. After a century against India, Alyssa Healy had a while to get settled before smashing three boundaries in the fifth over to destroy Fariha Trisna.
In just 83 balls, the pair reached their century stand. By then, both batsmen were moving at a similar speed, but after they had reached their half-centuries, Alyssa Healy took over the attack.
The points table now stands like this
She swept and slogswept Shorna Akter for consecutive boundaries after being dropped at short fine on 67 in the 20th over. Following that, boundaries were drawn quickly, with Ritu Moni, Rabeya Khan, and Fahima Khatun all taking the brunt of Alyssa Healy’s attack. By then playing the supporting role, Litchfield powered two consecutive boundaries to finish the chase.
South Africa will face Sri Lanka today at Premdasa Stadium in Colombo. Sri Lanka is at the bottom, in 7th place right now, and South Africa is at 3rd place on the points table. If South Africa wins today, which is most likely, then they will place one step forward towards the qualification for Semi semi-finals. However, if Sri Lanka wins, then it will be an upset for South Africa.
