Australia beat India in thriller after Alyssa Healy century

“After eight reps, ‘What did I do?'” Healy said. “I thought,” he sighed. “I thought we would chase 380 at one point but the bowlers pulled it back.”

Especially Sutherland, who took 5-40 as India lost their last six wickets for 36.

Ellyse Perry (left) and Kim Garth took Australia home.Credit: access point

Slow left-armer Sophie Molineux also made a fine comeback, taking three wickets, including that of Mandhana, despite Australia’s worst score in the World Cup with 75 from 10 overs.

Helpful contributions from Harleen Deol (38 off 42), Jemimah Rodrigues (33 off 21) and Richa Ghosh (32 off 22) still put huge pressure on the champions.

But Healy, 35, has rediscovered his best performance, devastating and combative from the start; He raced to a hundred off 84 balls and hit 142 off 107 balls, including 21 fours and three sixes.

“It was great to contribute heavily. I would have liked to have stayed a little longer, but the girls got the job done,” said Healy, who hasn’t scored a ton of ODI points in over three years.

Australia were given support by Phoebe Litchfield (40 off 39), with whom Healy made 85 in just 11.2 overs, Perry, who was forced to retire after the sixth wicket fell while cramping up on 32 to return five wickets, and Ash Gardner, who made 45 off 46.

This win returned Australia to the top of the league table; They remain unbeaten after four games with three wins and one defeat and have now progressed to the semi-finals after a 12th consecutive World Cup win stretching back to 2022.

But the pressure is on for India after they lost their second match in four days following the shock defeat by South Africa.

They can at least congratulate Mandhana, who scored three centuries against the Aussies this year and became the first female batsman to score 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year.

This also brought him 5000 ODI runs when he bowled Kim Garth for six overs at extra cover. He is the youngest and fastest player to reach the milestone.

AAP