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Alyssa Healy has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive win over Bangladesh.

The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.

“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” she said.

Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.

“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.

Since statistics was first taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities represented the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.

“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.

This allowed Bangladesh to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.

But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.

Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot

Healy was delighted to discover that the victory, which puts her undefeated side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.

The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.

The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty

The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their appeal.

The recalled Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars

In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.

Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.

Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against India a few days before.

“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”