Christchurch: Australian opener Alyssa Healy, who fashioned her team’s big win over England in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final at the Hagley Oval, revealed on Monday that her century in the semifinal against the West Indies had laid the foundation for her record-breaking innings in the title showdown.
Australia defeated the Heather Knight-led England by 71 runs to lift their seventh World Cup Trophy on Sunday with Healy’s power-packed 170 off 138 balls laying the foundation for the emphatic win.
The 32-year-old veteran wicketkeeper-batter attributed her sublime batting in the final to the 107-ball 129 she scored in the last-four clash against the West Indies. Australia had won the game by a whopping 157 runs.
“The semifinal innings was really a blueprint for me as to how I want to go about my one-day cricket,” Healy said on SEN’s Whateley on Monday.
“It opened my eyes to the way I can go about setting up a one-day innings. I tried to replicate that (in the final) and knew that if I gave myself a start… and then launch from there. It showed some level of maturity that I never knew I had,” added Healy.
Healy had an unimpressive start to the World Cup, averaging 30 runs in her first seven innings with a highest score of 72, before she scored consecutive centuries in the semis and the final. On her mixed start in the tournament, Healy said that she never felt out of form but at times “luck didn’t favour” her.
“I never really felt out of form all summer. I just felt out of runs which might sound silly… but I felt technically really sound. It was just bad decision making or bad execution that had been getting me out.
“To be able to turn that around and know in my own mind to hang in there and get the job done was really pleasing. I never felt out of form. I was just waiting for that opportunity to pounce and make some big runs.”
The opener finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer with 509 runs.
–IANS
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