Hosts South Africa overcame England by six runs to set up a battle with Australia for the trophy. South Africa batted first and scored 164 for 4 against England in the semifinal of the women’s 20-20 World Cup on Friday at Newlands in Cape Town.
South Africa won the toss and chose to bat first against England in the second semi-final on Friday. The Proteas Women will be looking to improve on their previous three wins out of 23 T20I clashes (1 no result) versus England, with the host nation entering into the semi-final with two wins out of four matches in the current 20-20 World Cup.
England were cruising after restricting South Africa to 164/4, but the game changed in the final three overs of their innings. England were 131/3 at the end of the 16th over, and despite South Africa’s important wicket of Nat Sciver-Brunt in the 17th over, England appeared to be able to continue scoring at the same rate.
Ayabonga Khaka, on the other hand, bowled the over of the tournament, taking three wickets and turning the game on its head. Shabnim Ismail then bowled England captain Heather Knight in the final over to secure the victory. Previously, South Africa got off to a poor start in the powerplay, but the openers sped up and put up a strong stand.
Laura Wolvaardt finished with a half-century, and her opening stand with Tazmin Brits yielded 96 runs. Brits then took over and hit her second half-century in a row, and South Africa, who had previously failed to exceed 140 in this competition, was poised to reach 170. Sophie Ecclestone delivered a superb 19th over, taking two wickets, but the 20th over went for 18 runs, taking South Africa to 164/4.
For the first time, South Africa have advanced to a 20-20 World Cup final, where they will face Australia on Sunday.
Here’s a look at how fans reacted to it:
Also winning looked better side than AUS today
— pskalyan (@SaikalyanPASUN1) February 24, 2023
Even SA qualified for finals then there are our Tik-Tok women's team ??
— Halsey ?? (@meandmyself017) February 24, 2023
That was some comeback. ?
— Aditya (@Adityakrsaha) February 24, 2023
Now win this world cup congratulations for finals @ProteasWomenCSA
— Rahul Kashyap?? (@chwjqkqmqlmamjk) February 24, 2023
Both semifinals are similar The chasing team was under full control but lost momentum in the last 5 overs…
— Chirag kudu ?? (@chirag_kudu) February 24, 2023
so, india had missed a world cup chance here, SA will be no match for aus
— ?????? ???? ????? (@Dbajwa07) February 24, 2023
History : South Africa Wins their first World Cup!
— Cricket With Laresh (@Lareshhere) February 24, 2023
In Cricket anything can happen if Eng can lose by 6 runs then India also
— Rimi Roy (@HEYAKHANI) February 24, 2023
Even SA qualified for finals then there are our Tik-Tok women's team ??
— Halsey ?? (@meandmyself017) February 24, 2023
