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

The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.

“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.

Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 came after possibly the team's weakest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that went down.

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

Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.

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

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

But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, 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 Seals Semi-Final Place

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

The 35-year-old skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their half-centuries.

Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century

Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting 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 Aussie pair at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire rejected their shout.

The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars

In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.

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

Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.

“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”