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Alyssa Healy has produced superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive victory over their opponents.

Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.

“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.

Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 came after perhaps the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six catches that were missed.

“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.

From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.

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

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

But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.

Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot

The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.

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

Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century

The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after her partner got there 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 effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.

The recalled Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spinners Excel as King Leads

In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.

Other spinners Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.

A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.

“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”