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The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant back-to-back hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive victory over their opponents.

The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.

“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.

Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s poorest display in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.

From the time statistics was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six dropped opportunities represented the team's poorest fielding display 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 reflect on,” Healy said.

It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.

But Alana King spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.

Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place

Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.

The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.

Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century

The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official rejected their appeal.

The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spinners Excel as King Stars

Instead, the spinners excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.

Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to thirteen.

A batter's 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.

“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and South Africa.”