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Alyssa Healy has executed brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket victory over their opponents.

The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off 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 race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.

“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.

Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for spilling two of the six chances that were missed.

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

From the time data was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.

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

This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.

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

The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place

Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she said.

The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.

Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty

Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.

The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spinners Excel as King Leads

Instead, the spinners thrived, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.

Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.

Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days before.

“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”