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The Australian skipper has produced superb consecutive centuries to guide her squad into the last four 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 similarly brilliant 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.

“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well today, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.

Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed possibly the team's poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain scolding herself in particular for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed.

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

From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.

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

This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.

But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to making sure the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.

Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot

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

The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.

The Opener Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century

The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries soon after Healy reached hers off 43. 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, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.

The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Stars

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

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

Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the total was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.

“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and South Africa.”