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Alyssa Healy has delivered superb back-to-back hundreds to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.

The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.

“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.

Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing 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 batting, and fortunately delivered,” she added.

From the time data was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.

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

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

But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s target remained manageable.

Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot

The Australian skipper was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.

The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.

The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century

The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.

In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.

The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads

Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.

Other spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.

A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.

“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”