South Africa will look to reach a third successive final at the T20 Women’s World Cup when they square off against hosts England at the Oval on Thursday evening. The Proteas Ladies have been runners up at the last two editions of the tournament- they lost to Australia in the 2023 final and New Zealand in the 2024 one. They were also losing finalists at the 50 over World Cup a few months ago, going down to India in the final.
Qualification for semis not exactly straight forward
Put in a tough group along with Australia and India, the Proteas Women had a disappointing start to the campaign as they were convincingly beaten by the Aussies in Manchester. The Australians made 172 batting first despite losing early wickets at Old Trafford. South Africa were strangulated in the chase by the Aussie spinners, who took eight wickets between them as they only mustered 107 in response.
The second game saw South Africa just about stumble over the line against Pakistan in Birmingham. They won by 2 wickets after having reduced Pakistan to 50/8 in the first innings at one stage.
The two ordinary performances saw them drop Sune Luus and Reyneke and bring in Tazmin Brits and Dane van Niekerk into the XI against India. A virtuoso all round performance from Marizanne Kapp, albeit aided by some shoddy Indian fielding (she was dropped thrice), saw them beat India to keep their hopes alive.
They then thrashed the Netherlands, but reverted to type against Bangladesh in another low scoring thriller, making heavy weather of an easy chase in their final game.
South Africa only qualified for the semis because Australia, who had already qualified, beat India in their final group game. A victory of any margin for the Indians (which looked quite possibly at the half-way stage of the Australian chase), would’ve seen the Proteas exit the tournament.
England steamroll their way into last four
As unconvincing as South Africa were in their group, England were exactly the opposite in theirs- they steamrolled everyone in their group and finished with a 100% record and a NRR of 2.134 to qualify for the semis.
With England also having home advantage for the tournament, it’s hardly a surprise that the odds at many a betting site favour the hosts for this semi-final clash against the Proteas Ladies. Charlotte Edwards’ side have been excellent with the bat, and dismantled defending champions New Zealand in their last game by comfortably chasing down 164 with 9 wickets and nearly three overs to spare.
Will Wolvaardt stand up?
South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt hasn’t quite been at her best in this tournament. The Proteas Ladies have mostly relied on Annerie Dercksen and Nadine de Klerk with the bat, with the occasional contribution from Tazmin Brits and Kapp. A lot was expected of young Reyneke, but she found herself dropped after just two games following some ordinary displays against spin.
Unlike England or Australia, South Africa don’t really having batting depth, which makes contributions from their top order a must for them in games like these.
Wolvaardt’s century was key to South Africa upsetting England in the semi-finals of the 50 over World Cup in Guwahati a few months ago, and she’ll be hoping for an encore this time around too.
The game is at the Oval. South Africa haven’t played at the venue yet in this tournament, but England have- it was the scene of their thumping win over New Zealand.
England Women v SA Women (The Oval, 2 July, 18.30 local time)