A record crowd of 12,782– the highest attendance ever for a women’s cricket match in South Africa, turned up at Newlands but saw the Proteas Ladies go down to defending champions Australia.
Australia opted to bat first and reached 156/6 in their allotted 20 overs. In the chase, Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt, the key players in the semi-final win over England, only managed 22 in the first six overs. From then on, scoreboard pressure did the rest, and despite a brief period in the chase when Wolvaard and Chloe Tryon got together and reduced the equation to 59 off 5 overs, Australia were always ahead of the game and won by 19 runs at the end.
The fan turnout was well above the SA v England semifinal attendance and SA Bangladesh final group game crowd at the same venue.