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Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant consecutive centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive win over their opponents.

The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.

“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said.

Ironically, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's poorest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.

From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.

“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.

It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.

But Alana King mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.

The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot

Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.

The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.

Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century

The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.

In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.

The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads

Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.

Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.

A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and the Proteas.”