Home World Cup Australia in seventh heaven after Alyssa Healy’s sensational 170 in final

Australia in seventh heaven after Alyssa Healy’s sensational 170 in final

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Australia in seventh heaven after Alyssa Healy’s sensational 170 in final

Alyssa Healy has the nickname Midge for being short in stature, but make no mistake, she is a big-game player.

The dynamic Australia opener Alyssa Healy re-wrote the record books as she produced one of the greatest ODI innings of all time as Australia defeated England by 71 runs to win their record seventh Women’s World Cup title at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.

The Healy puzzle

Harmanpreet Kaur’s 171 not out against Australia in the 2017 World Cup semifinal failed to start the revolution in women’s cricket in India, but it certainly helped Australia find this fearless template.

After the 36-run loss against India, Australia captain Meg Lanning and coach Matthew Mott asked the team to watch the entire match. After some brutal introspection, the team settled on one key aspect that would shape and define the Australian cricket team, and it was the fearless approach.

The final jigsaw in that fearless brand of cricket was Alyssa Healy. Post the World Cup exit, coach Matthew Mott sat Healy down for a talk and told her that he wanted her to open in all three formats.

Before 2017, Healy was averaging 15.96 in the 52 ODI matches. She had only two fifty-plus scores in 41 innings. The move turned out to be a masterstroke for both the player and the team. After the 2017 World Cup, Healy scored 2144 runs in 42 innings with an average of 52.29, a strike rate of 102.29. In these five years, she has scored five centuries, two in the 2022 World Cup semifinal and final, and thirteen half-centuries.

So apart from Healy’s promotion in the batting order, what changed in Australian cricket post the 2017 World Cup heartbreak? Ellyse Perry summed up quite categorically after the match: “I guess just the shift in the attitude to take the game on all the time and to deal with pressure along the way. Just that mentality is the huge shift from the 2017 World Cup.”

The Healy masterclass

After being put in to bat on a belter of a track, Australia were cautious in the first powerplay, scoring 37 in the first ten overs.

But the introduction of spin in the form of Charlie Dean proved Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes’ cue to start finding the boundary regularly.

The sloppy fielding from England also helped them as Haynes was dropped on 47 by Danny Wyatt before Healy was put down on 41 by Nat Sciver in the same Kate Cross over. Healy made the most of the reprieve and switched her gears after crossing the 50-run mark.

Haynes’ half-century came first – off 69 balls – before Healy’s was brought up off 62 as they put on 160-runs for the first wicket, the highest opening partnership in a World Cup final.

Even as Dean continued to be targeted, spin made the breakthrough as Sophie Ecclestone took her 21st and final wicket of the tournament to dismiss Haynes for 68.

The partnership had ended, but Healy found another able partner in Beth Mooney, who was promoted up the order. Healy became only the second woman to score a hundred in a World Cup final and the only player to score back-to-back centuries in the knockout stage of a World Cup.

More records came when Australia reached 260 for one to rack up the highest score in a World Cup final – with eight overs still to go.

Healy departed after Amy Jones stumped her off Ann Shrubsole’s bowling, and she received a rousing applause from her teammates and a packed Heagely Oval, including her husband, Mitchell Starc. Hayley’s knock was studded with twenty-six boundaries.

Australia lost Healy, Ash Gardner, skipper Meg Lanning, and Beth Mooney in quick succession. But they got the final fourish, courtesy of Ellyse Perry’s quick-fire 17 not out off just 10 deliveries.

Sciver scare for Aussies

Nat Sciver was on a mission, but she ran out of partners with England, folding out on 285 runs in 43.4 overs.

England’s opening partnership failed to fire once again as Danni Wyatt was bowled by a beautiful inswinger from Megan Schutt for just four. Beaumont was dismissed LBW by Schutt for 27 from 26 balls.

Sciver was again called upon to deliver against Australia, having made 109 not out in the group game, and her breath-taking knock kept England in the hunt. She saw an LBW overturned off the bowling of Alana King before partner and captain Heather Knight was given out the same way two balls later for 26.

Jones fell for 20 to end a promising partnership as England slipped to 129 for four before Sophia Dunkley joined Sciver in the middle and the duo started to rebuild England’s innings. But she was bowled by King two balls after the fifty partnership was brought up, the leg-spinner extracting turn to bowl her round her legs for 23.

Brunt departed for 1 as Healy got a stumping of her own before Ecclestone managed only 3, trapped in front by McGrath. Jess Jonassen grabbed another caught and bowled against England as Cross went for only two to leave Knight’s side, needing an unlikely 144 with only two wickets remaining.

Dean joined Sciver in time for her to bring up another brilliant century, coming off 90 balls with 10 fours and one six. Sciver hit the only maximum of the match in which 641 runs were scored. The pair built a partnership of 65 before Dean holed out to Jonassen at third man, attempting a reverse sweep.

Shrubsole was the final wicket to go, Gardner taking the winning catch as England fell 71 runs short with Sciver stranded on 148 not out.

The record-breaking Healy

Healy not only scored her individual highest ODI score but also registered the biggest score by a man or woman in a World Cup final.

She surpassed the previous record of 107 not out that former Australia batter Karen Rolton managed against India in the 2005 Women’s World Cup final and overtook some of the biggest names in men’s cricket.

Healy not only went past the great Sir Viv Richards (138 not out against England in 1979), former Australia captain Ricky Ponting (140 not out against India in 2003) and former Australia keeper Adam Gilchrist (149 against Sri Lanka in 2007), but she overtook them convincingly.

On a day when she kept on breaking one record after other, she also became the first cricketer – male or female – to score a century in both the semifinal and final of a World Cup. Her swashbuckling knock also helped her go past former New Zealand batter Debbie Hockley to post the most runs (509) by an individual at any Women’s World Cup tournament.

Healy’s opening partner and Australia’s vice-captain Rachael Haynes had previously gone past Hockley’s 456-run total, but that seemed to spur Healy on further as she overtook them both in style to set Australia on their way.

Brief Scores

Australia 356/ for 5 in 50 overs (Alyssa Healy 170, Rachael Haynes 68; Anya Shrubsole 3/46, Sophie Ecclestone 1/71) bt England: 285 all out in 43.4 overs (Nat Sciver 148 not out, Tammy Beaumont 27; Jess Jonassen 3/57, Alana King 3/64)

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