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Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.

The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated hosts India at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.

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

Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.

“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.

Since statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.

“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.

It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.

The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place

The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.

The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.

The Opener Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty

The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.

Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.

The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads

In contrast, the spinners excelled, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.

Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.

A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days before.

“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”