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Alyssa Healy has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh.

Healy finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.

“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as captain as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.

Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed possibly Australia’s poorest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” she added.

From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.

“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll analyze,” the captain said.

This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.

But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.

Healy Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place

Healy was pleased to learn that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.

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

Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Half-Century

The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their appeal.

The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars

In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.

Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.

A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”