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Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.

Healy remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.

“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.

Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the field under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.

From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.

“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.

It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.

But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.

The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place

The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.

The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.

The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century

The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.

The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spinners Excel as King Stars

In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.

Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to 13.

Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days before.

“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”