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Alyssa Healy has delivered superb back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket victory over their opponents.

Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her similarly brilliant 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.

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

Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 followed possibly the team's shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that were missed.

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

From the time data was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches represented the team's poorest fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.

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

This allowed the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.

The Captain Pleased with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot

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

The experienced captain sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours 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 Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty

Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.

The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads

In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.

Other spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.

A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days before.

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”