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The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant consecutive centuries to lead her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.

The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.

“I thought I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.

Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's poorest display in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen chances that went down.

“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.

From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.

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

It helped the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was key to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.

Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place

Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.

The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.

Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Fifty

Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.

The recalled Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ costliest bowler, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars

Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.

Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.

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

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”