She has three hundreds in the Women's World Cup.
Australia captain Alyssa Healy obliterated India on Sunday to clinch the high-profile match by three wickets in the ongoing Women’s World Cup 2025. It was an incredible display of batting as the defending champions recorded the highest ever run-chase in Women’s ODIs.
Details of ICC Women’s World Cup 2025
Over the years, we have seen quite a few stunning knocks in the Women’s World Cup. Today we will discuss some of the best knocks in tournament history and where Healy’s innings rank.
The day ‘Harmonster’ term was coined. Harmanpreet Kaur was at her absolute best in the semi-final of the 2017 Women’s World Cup edition against Australia. Beating the Aussie women’s team in those times was considered much tougher than it currently is. The gulf in them and other teams was so massive, you needed something incredibly special to outplay them.
In this game, Harman produced that moment. Arguably the greatest moment in women’s cricket. She single-handedly took down the Aussies in a brutal display of hitting. She blasted 171 not out in just 115 deliveries, laced with 20 fours and seven maximums. India posted 281 in 42 overs and knocked Australia out. Given the sheer enormity of this knock, it is hard to beat in men’s or women’s cricket.
Alyssa Healy was sublime in Visakhapatnam in the group fixture against the home side India. Australia were given a target no team in the history of women’s cricket had been able to achieve. They needed a strong start and Healy stepped up on the big stage.
The Australian captain picked her targets perfectly and timed the innings exceptionally well. Chasing 331, Healy smashed 142 runs in 107 balls to put her team in the driving seat. She struck 21 fours and three sixes in her innings. When she was dismissed, Australia needed just 66 off 67 to win.
Just a few days before the Harmanpreet knock, Chamari Athapaththu exploded against the same opponent. Playing against the best team in the world, Athapaththu was a lone warrior for her side.
The all-rounder smashed a sensational 178 off 143 deliveries with no support from the other end. She struck 22 fours and six maximums in a magnificent exhibition of batting. You can understand how impressive this knock was by the fact that the next highest score from a Sri Lanka batter was just 24. Sri Lanka lost the game but this knock etched her name in history books. Athapaththu holds the record for the highest percentage (69.26) of runs in a team’s total in a completed ODI innings.
Another one-woman show against the mighty Australia. Nat Sciver-Brunt fought till the very end in the 2022 World Cup final in Christchurch. Chasing an impossible-looking target of 357, the star all-rounder walked in at number four in the seventh over.
England kept losing wickets from one end but Nat Sciver-Brunt was giving her everything from the other. She blasted 148 not out in 121 deliveries with 15 fours and a six. Sciver-Brunt looked invincible on that day but unfortunately ran out of partners. England needed 72 runs off 39 balls before the last wicket fell.
In the same game where Sciver-Brunt threatened to beat Australia single-handedly, Alyssa Healy produced her own masterclass. She came into the final on the back of a century in the semi-final and delivered one of the most brutal knocks.
Healy hit 170 runs in 138 balls with 27 fours. She completed her century in 100 balls and put the foot on the accelerator. The next 70 runs came off only 37 balls before she fell in the 46th over. The Aussies piled on 356 runs and went on to win their seventh Women’s World Cup title.
Ashleigh Gardner makes this list for the greatest knocks in Women’s World Cup history for her match-winning performance against New Zealand in the ongoing edition. The world champions were in a spot of bother, having lost half the side for just 128.
Gardner took control of the innings with some handy support from Kim Garth, and helped Australia reach 326 in 50 overs. The all-rounder hammered 115 runs in 83 balls, including 16 fours and a six. Thanks to her knock, they got their campaign off to a winning start with an 89-run victory.
It might seem like recency bias given how many knocks from the current edition are on this list but it’s not. The game has evolved so much in recent times that women are doing crazy stuff. South Africa’s Nadine de Klerk pulled off one such knock versus India.
Chasing 252 on a tricky pitch, the Proteas were reduced to 142 for 6 in the 36th over. All hopes were almost lost but de Klerk and Chloe Tryon took the game close. De Klerk then brought up some lusty blows on her way to a blistering 84 not out in 54 balls. She hit eight fours and five sixes to chase down the total.
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Beth Mooney was at her finest in the clash against Pakistan in Colombo, where Australia had found themselves in a massive hole. Batting first, their batting unit collapsed against the Pakistan spinners. They had lost seven wickets for just 76 runs and even touching the three-figure mark was looking difficult.
Mooney, however, showed her trademark calmness and resilience. She batted till the end and scored an outstanding 109 off 114 with 11 fours. She added a 106-run stand for the ninth wicket with Alana King to help the team post 221 from a treacherous situation and won by 107 runs.
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