🔗 Share this article Alyssa Healy Hammers Another Hundred to Propel Australia into Cricket World Cup Semi-Finals The Australian skipper has delivered superb consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the semi-finals of the 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 equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries. “I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said. Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's chase as the duo added 202 came after possibly the team's weakest performance in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that were missed. “I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added. Since data was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament. “Perhaps it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” the captain said. It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions. But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging. Healy Delighted with Victory that Confirms Knockout Spot Healy was thrilled to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed. The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries. The Opener Impresses with First World Cup Fifty Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 fours and one maximum, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup. In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, Healy spilled the easiest of chances off a teammate and also failed to hold on to a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout. The reinstated Brown bowled the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs. Spinners Thrive as King Leads Instead, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t missed one in the slips. Other spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen. Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days earlier. “It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”