Alyssa Healy Hammers a Second Hundred to Power the Australian Team into Cricket World Cup Semi-Finals

The Australian skipper has delivered superb consecutive centuries to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.

Healy finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.

“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 win and progress,” Healy remarked.

Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six chances that went down.

“I felt somewhat let down with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.

Since statistics was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.

“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.

This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.

But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.

The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Knockout Place

The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.

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

The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century

Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.

The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spin Attack Thrive as King Stars

Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.

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

Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’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 side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side a few days before.

“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face the English team and South Africa.”