South Africa pip England in humdinger set up final date with Australia

RSAW 164/4 (20)

ENGW 158/8 (20)

South Africa Women won by 6 runs

South Africa staged their best performance of the tournament - with bat, ball and in the field - to upset England and secure a place in a World Cup final for the first time in any form of international cricket - men's or women's.

Their victory was built on a 96-run opening stand between Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt as both racked up half-centuries for the second consecutive time in this tournament before Marizanne Kapp's cameo of 27 from 13 balls took the hosts to 164 for 4. That left England needing their joint third-highest successful T20I run chase and joint-highest at a World Cup, matching their 2009 semi-final effort against Australia.

Ayabonga Khaka and Shabnim Ismail then claimed seven wickets between them - and Brits took a Women's T20I record-equalling four catches to put the task beyond England and set up a clash for the trophy with defending champions Australia on Sunday. All of this had seemed so far away a fortnight ago.

The hosts had lost the opening match of the tournament to Sri Lanka by three runs at Newlands, setting back their campaign and were also beaten by Australia in Gqeberha. But they defeated Bangladesh in their final group game to squeeze into the knockout stages at the expense of New Zealand. Back in Cape Town on Friday, they held their nerve superbly to pull off a stunning victory before 7,507 fans.

Tazmin Brits | Player of the Match: You dream of these moments, to show up when the team wants you the most. Thank you very much to the crowd. They got behind us and this wouldn't have been possible without them. Nice to have a home crowd behind you. We needed to accelerate more in the powerplay against Bangladesh, so we did that today. I still battled a bit in the beginning. We said 140 is a minimum and 160 is what we are looking at. I wrote that down on a paper and told myself that is what I am actually gonna go for. I'm glad we got to 165. I still can't believe it (taking four catches). I actually said I'm on a fifer for catches. I am very happy with that. You can get it from the crowd what this (making it to the final for the first time) means to our country. Finals, here we come.

Heather Knight | England skipper: Gutted, it was a brilliant game of cricket. We fought really hard at the end to try and take as close as we did. I guess South Africa with their bowling plans were really good, they had clear and simple plans and bowled straight. This game is one of the finest group I have ever come up against. There is a huge amount of time (for the next World Cup), we are trying to build something nicely but sometimes when you are playing against good sides these fine margins happen. We are very clear on how we want to go about our T20 cricket, obviously hasn't come off today, but the future for us going forward, young players being really aggressive and really attacking and trying to take the game on and trying to entertain. I tried to take it all in (the support from the crowd), took a moment to listen to the noise when I'm batting in the middle. Great to have so much support for the game. I'm sure the people that were there yesterday and today were thoroughly entertained and got their value for their money. I will be watching (the final), gutted not to be there but credit to Sune and team for making it to the finals.

It's Australia v South Africa on Sunday - The World Cup final. 26 FEB 2023. The Proteas are through to the finals for the first time in their history.