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The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.

Healy finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.

“I thought I was a below par 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 supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.

Since data was initially taken on fielding metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.

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

This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.

The Captain Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Place

The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten team at the 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 experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.

Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century

The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.

In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.

The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars

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

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

Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”