South Africa posted a challenging 164/4 due to half-centuries from openers Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt.
During England’s chase, the momentum went back and forth, with England’s openers getting off to a quick start, Brits holding to four catches to remove each of England’s top four, and Ayabonga Khaka collecting three wickets in an over.
And it all came down to Shabnim Ismail’s final over, with England needing 13 runs to win but coming up six short. South Africa has advanced to their first World Cup final in any format as a consequence of the result.
England’s openers got the response off to a flying start, going up a 53-run stand inside the Powerplay to reduce the needed scoring rate.
The explosive Sophia Dunkley was out at the start of the sixth over, mistiming a powerful shot off Shabnim Ismail and falling to Tazmin Brits for 28 off 16. Two balls later, the British made a spectacular catch to eliminate Alice Capsey without scoring.
England dug in as the pressure began to build, with key batter Nat Sciver-Brunt holding the key. There was another twist when Brits produced her third catch of the innings to remove Danni Wyatt for 34.
And just when it looked like Nat Sciver-Brunt was steering England to a winning position, Brits popped up in the deep to remove the tournament’s top-scorer for a 34-ball 40.
England needed a big finish, but Ayabonga Khaka had other ideas, bowling a brilliant 18th over, taking three wickets to remove Amy Jones (2), Sophie Ecclestone (1) and Katherine Sciver-Brunt (0) to leave 25 needed from the last two overs.
And that triple-strike left England short of firepower as they were unable to chase down 13 in Ismail’s final over to bow out of the tournament. Earlier it was Proteas captain Sune Luus who won the toss and opted to bat first, and her openers got off to a steady start in the Powerplay. The pace of scoring wasn’t particularly high, but South Africa kept wickets in hand and laid a platform as Wolvaardt and Brits reached 37/0 after six overs.
The scoring increased as the openers continued to build a platform, with Wolvaardt the more fluent of the two.
But with England having hit a record score at this ground just days ago, albeit against a weaker bowling attack, the onus was on South Africa to attack in the second half of their innings.
A flowing boundary from Wolvaardt brought up her second half-century in as many matches. But she fell just three balls later, caught by Charlie Dean off Sophie Ecclestone for 53 from 44 balls.
Fellow opener Brits started slowly, but sped up rapidly in the second half of her innings, racing to 68 off 55 when she was removed by Lauren Bell in the 18th over to dent the Proteas’ progress. South Africa’s power hitters had two overs remaining to add gloss to a decent score.
Ecclestone came back well in her final over to remove Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk, finishing with standout figures of 3/22 from her four overs. But Katherine Sciver-Brunt’s final over went for 18 runs as Marizanne Kapp unleashed shot after shot, finishing unbeaten on 27* from 13 balls.
A total of 164/4 was always going to test England, and so it proved, as a vocal home crowd celebrated South Africa’s historic win. Australia triumphed over India in a fascinating first semi-final on Thursday, holding on to win by five runs after posting a large but not unbeatable first-innings score of 172/4.
Additional Reporting icc-cricket