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Alyssa Healy has executed superb consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.

Healy remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.

“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.

Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that went down.

“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.

From the time data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.

“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain said.

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

But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.

The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot

Healy was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.

The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.

The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century

The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.

In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.

The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spinners Thrive as King Leads

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

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

Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.

“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”