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The Australian skipper has executed outstanding back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive win over Bangladesh.

The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.

“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.

Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s shoddiest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that went down.

“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.

From the time data was first taken on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.

“Perhaps it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.

This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their highest total in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.

The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot

Healy was delighted to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten side 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 fantastic,” she exclaimed.

The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.

Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Half-Century

Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries soon 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.

In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.

The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Excel as King Stars

Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.

Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.

Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Aussies, but the total was rendered easy meat by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four days earlier.

“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”