The Australian Team Breaks New Ground as Captain Alyssa Healy Confronts Her Ultimate Challenge.
It's tough for the Australian squad to break new ground.
The top summits have already been conquered.
This is the unit that has won seven Cricket World Cups, in addition to another six T20 titles, and once went nearly four years unbeaten in 50-over cricket.
The secondary achievements, targeted by the record chasers, are all that remain for a team that has won it all.
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It needed until Sunday's victory by three wickets over India for them to achieve their initial ODI chase exceeding 300, taking back their record for the highest in the women's 50-over format, is, frankly, a tribute to the bowlers that have sported the yellow jersey over the last half-century.
It is hard for their hitters to hold a record if not provided the possibility.
Ultimately, the outcome of Australia conceding 330 was skipper Alyssa Healy getting a chance to create her latest masterpiece.
Originally famous as the 19-year-old niece of famous ex Aussie wicketkeeper Ian, she debuted in 2010 after Australia failed to win either of the 20 or 50-over World Cups held the previous year and has experienced everything through 15 championship-filled years since.
Success in the T20 World Cup arrived three months after her first appearance and seven world titles have followed from 10 tries across formats.
The tough gloveman was also there in Derby in 2017 when a semi-final defeat by India temporarily stopped the successful run.
That loss "pushed us to rethink our standards," Healy said this week.
At the following one-day championship in New Zealand, Healy scored 170 against England in the title decider and was awarded tournament MVP. She made sure her country would not come up short.
The question of whether this latest epic knock topped that previous effort is debatable.
Many contend the reasoning behind championship match pressure. Different voices suggest with the test that comes when pursuing an unprecedented total and a loud pro-India audience of 20,000.
What's clear is this hundred was much more difficult to predict.
The New Zealand onslaught in 2022 happened while she led the batting statistics, but this knock followed six innings in India from the beginning of the previous month in which she had been unable to reach 30.
"If you've observed me in training, it has been a frustrating experience because it seemed my form was missing at all," said Healy.
"Yet the moment you take the field, your competitive nature kick in and you simply focus on the match."
Healy's competitiveness has consistently been her great strength - and an invaluable trait in succeeding legendary former captain Meg Lanning.
She was challenged by India's rising star Kranti Gaud in last month's ODI series, dismissed by the emerging pace bowler in each encounter, but on this occasion it simply offered Healy's spark.
A single was taken off the opening delivery and from that point Healy was underway.
"A chance to go out there and lock in a contest with her and just have a bit of fun in that regard, sort of got me going," said Healy.
She reached fifty in 35 deliveries - her quickest at the global tournament - and her century in 84 as she flogged anything short, hitting 21 fours and three maximums.
When she was out her side required another 66 at a run-a-ball - an unconquered height now requiring a leisurely stroll.
"To chase 330 is unfamiliar ground so I am glad we have the belief to achieve that now," added Healy.
"Hopefully we don't have to do it again but, should it happen, we believe we can do it."
Those words will be the final thing Australia's opponents at this tournament want to hear.
Over the past five days a sense they will triumph from any situation has only strengthened - this success following win against Pakistan by 107-run victory despite struggling at 76-7 at a certain moment.
Following this Australia face Bangladesh before a meeting with longtime competitors England in Indore in ten days, by which point a semi-final place may probably be guaranteed.
It was at that stage they were eliminated from the prior year's T20 World Cup in a surprising setback by South Africa - a match Healy missed because of ruptured tissue in her foot as she captained her nation for the initial instance at a major tournament.
So strong is her resolve, she afterwards commented she regretted not playing through the pain.
But while she afterwards confessed those injuries have delayed thoughts of retirement, this tournament is likely to be her concluding event as leader in ODI cricket and she is yet to win a world championship as captain.
Success in India would take her to the summit of her ultimate challenge.