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The Australian skipper has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a commanding 10-wicket win over their opponents.

Healy remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.

“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.

Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 runs followed perhaps the team's weakest display in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.

Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.

“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.

It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.

But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.

The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Place

The Australian skipper was pleased to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.

The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.

Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty

The young batter Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.

In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, Healy dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did 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 team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spinners Excel as King Leads

In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips.

Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.

A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days earlier.

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”