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Alyssa Healy has produced superb back-to-back hundreds to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive victory over their opponents.

Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.

“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.

Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the pair put on 202 followed possibly Australia’s poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.

Since statistics was initially recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team'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 review,” Healy commented.

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

But Alana King mesmeric continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.

The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot

Healy was pleased to discover that the victory, which puts her unbeaten side at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.

The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their fifties.

Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Half-Century

Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her first tournament fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.

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

Spinners Excel as King Stars

Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slip cordon.

Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.

A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs 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,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”