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Alyssa Healy has delivered superb consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.

The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.

“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.

Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.

“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.

From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.

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

It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.

But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.

Healy 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 group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.

The 35-year-old captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.

Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty

The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.

In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.

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

Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars

Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.

Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.

A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against India a few days earlier.

“It's great 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 Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”