Healy signs off with stunning 158 as Australia sweep the World Champions in ODI leg

The curtain came down on one of the most celebrated careers in Women's ODIs and it ended with a thunderclap. Alyssa Healy smashed 158 off 98 balls, 27 fours, two sixes, and left the Bellerive Oval rocking to its foundations. It was the kind of farewell that Healy may not have been able to script any better, if she had been given a go.

So spectacular was Healy's knock that even a Beth Mooney hundred (106* off 84 balls) was reduced to a footnote in the scorebook. Australia posted a gargantuan 409 and India were barely able to lay a glove on it. The 185-run victory meant the hosts had swept the ODI leg 3-0 to take an unassailable 8-4 lead in the multi-format series, humbling the reigning World Cup champions in the process.

The day began with ceremony after Harmanpreet Kaur won yet another toss. India formed a guard of honour as Healy walked to the crease for her last ODI innings, and she repaid that gesture with merciless brutality. Funnily, her belligerence began with facing a maiden from Renuka Singh. A trademark pull off Kashvee Gautam then got things moving, and from that moment it felt like the tempo of the game had changed for good. There was luck - an lbw shout that DRS deemed umpire's call on hitting leg stump, a Rana miss at short fine that scuttled to the fence - but there was genius too, and Healy's genius far outweighed the fortune.

She reached fifty off 49 balls with great control and went about her business alongside Georgia Voll, who played a bristling supporting role. Voll, fresh from a century on this same surface two days earlier, was terrific in a 104-run stand with a 52-ball 62. However, Voll's dismissal, miscuing Sneh Rana to long-on, barely registered as a check on Australia's momentum.

Healy didn't pause. She brought up her eighth ODI century, equalling the second-most by an Australian woman, off just 79 balls and then went into a higher realm that belongs to very few players. She needed just 16 balls to travel from 100 to 150, becoming only the second woman to post two 150-plus scores in ODIs, the second fastest 150 in the women's game, and the author of the highest ever score in a women's ODI on Australian soil and the highest anywhere against India.

The end, when it came, was almost comical - a premeditated reverse paddle sweep to a rank full toss from Rana saw the stumps rattled behind her back with 13.3 overs still remaining. A double century had flickered into view. However, a suspected calf problem Healy had been managing in the second half of her innings likely had its say. But she left to a standing ovation, having joined Johmari Logtenberg as the only women to score a century in their final ODI.

Beth Mooney then took centre stage and showed why she is one of the most complete batters in the modern game. She began cautiously, managing just 2 of her first 12 balls, before unfurling the full range in a stand of 145 with Healy. Once Healy departed, Mooney picked up the tempo ruthlessly. Her second fifty took just 29 balls. She brought up a magnificent sixth ODI century in the last over from just 82 balls and finishing on 106 not out from 84.

Alongside her, Nicola Carey smashed a brutal 34 not out from just 15 balls. The pair plundered 22 off Shree Charani's final over, pushing Australia's tally close to 400 and the young spinner's figures past 100 - only the third woman in history to concede more than 100 in an ODI innings. In fact, she was one of three India bowlers to leak more than 80 on the day, a stark reflection of the punishment they endured.

India were barely in the chase once Nicola Carey dismissed Smriti Mandhana for a duck in the second over. Pratika Rawal and Jemimah Rodrigues led a brisk counter-attacking stand, putting on 54 in just 5.5 overs but Rawal was dismissed LBW by Annabel Sutherland and Jemimah Rodrigues' boundary laden 29-ball 42 was ended by Ash Gardner courtesy a catch from debutant Lucy Hamilton. Inside the 20th over, India also lost Harleen Deol and Harmanpreet Kaur with less than 120 runs on the board.

Australia appeared to be hurtling to a rapid win when Alana King took over and dismissed Richa Ghosh and Kashvee Gautam before Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana saved India's blushes somewhat with a 63-run stand for the eighth wicket. India passed 200 but finished a distant second, in the game and the series, with King finishing with figures of 4 for 33.

Brief scores: Australia 409/7 in 50 overs (Alyssa Healy 158, Beth Mooney 106*; Sneh Rana 2-66) beat India 224 in 45.1 overs (Sneh Rana 44, Jemimah Rodrigues 42; Alana King 4-33) by 185 runs