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Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant consecutive centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless comprehensive win 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 Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.

“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.

Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that went down.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” she added.

Since data was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.

“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.

This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s chase remained manageable.

The Captain Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place

The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.

The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically shot for shot towards their fifties.

Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Half-Century

Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.

In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.

The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars

In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.

Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.

Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.

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