Venue : Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Toss : South Africa Women won the toss and opt to bowl
Captain’s talk
Dane van Niekerk | South Africa skipper: We are gonna have a bowl with the rain around, you know what you want to get in the semi-final. Gets a bit easier. You know if you want to get into the finals you have to beat the defending world champions. Kapp hasn’t recovered, she’s out of the semi-final. Nadine de Klerk comes in for her.
Meg Lanning | Australian skipper: Wasn’t really surely to be honest. There’s potentially some rain coming so happy to let South Africa choose. It looks a good wicket, dry and hopefully we make the most of it. Molineux and Kimmince come in for Perry and Sutherland.
Squad
South Africa Women (Playing XI): Lizelle Lee, Dane van Niekerk(c), Sune Luus, Mignon du Preez, Laura Wolvaardt, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Trisha Chetty(w), Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba
Australia Women (Playing XI): Alyssa Healy(w), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning(c), Ashleigh Gardner, Jess Jonassen, Rachael Haynes, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Delissa Kimmince, Megan Schutt
Australia batting
Host enters the ground with a keen to win this semi final to step into the final clash for the trophy against India. Healy and Mooney gets in the crease, Healy is on strike. Ismail opens the attack against Australia. Due to the climatic condition Australia decide to score high which place them in a safe position if the rain interrupt the match during South Africa’s batting.
Healy dismissed
As per the plan Aussies openers starts to strike in steady and controlled form to score high. After the catch dropped for Healy the pressure starts to raise but in the very next over Ayabonga dismissed Healy for 18 runs. This duo added 34 runs for the first wicket. Australian women’s skipper Meg Lanning gets in ground with an important role to do for their victory. At the end of power play Australia scored 48 runs for a wicket loss.
Mooney lose her wicket to Nadine de Klerk for 28 runs. Where the partnership raise to 34 runs as similar to the first partnership break, Aussis scored 68 runs in total. In the next over after the Mooney’s wicket Jonassen dismissed by N Mlaba for 1 runs. Ashleigh Gardner too retun pavilion for golden duck, Aussies seems to be in trouble as they loose 4 wickets for 71 runs.
Nadine de Klerk’s triple wicket
Aussies then start to play in control in order to add some runs in the total. After 15th over Aussies crossed 100 runs for 4 wicket loss. Haynes lose her wicket to Nadine de Klerk when she scored 17 runs for 18 wickets. Nicola Carey and Lanning paired and dragged Australia to a descent score of 134 runs. Meg Lanning missed her fifty by one run and stands undefeated in ground.
DLS method implemented
During the innings break rain starts which interrupted the South African batting. After the pitch verification DLS method implemented, according to which overs have been reduced to 13 from 20 out of that South Africa have to score 98 runs to make their entry into finals.
South Africa batting
South Africa enters the ground with a pressure due to the implementation of DLS method. Lee and van Niekerk gets in the crease, Lee is on strike. Schutt opens the attack against South Africa. Molineux dismissed Lee for 10 runs a very much needed wicket at the early stage for Aussies.
Three wickets in three consecutive overs-struggled Proteas
In the very next over Schutt dismissed van Niekerk for 12 runs, South Africa lose its two openers. In the following over Delissa Kimmince dismissed du Preez where she returned pavilion without scoring any. Three wickets in three consecutive overs a huge blow for South Africa.
Aussies won the semi-final
At the end of 10 over South Africa scored 66 runs for 3 wicket loss. South Africa is in need of 32 runs from 18 balls where Proteas need some big shots to make their way to finals. Schutt saved Australia by dismissing Sune Luus for 21 runs off 22 balls. New player Chloe Tryon gets in ground and struggled to make score. With 13 need of last over South Africa never had a chance to chase this. Finally Australia women won by 5 runs (by DLS Method – 2nd Inn reduced to 13 overs due to rain, Target 98).
Player of the match
Meg Lanning (Australia)
Batting : 49 runs off 49 delivery
Meg Lanning : That was very stressful, the way it rained during the day. The groundstaff here did an amazing job to get us on the field and we were lucky enough to get better weather. It was hard work as they bowled well and made it difficult on this skiddy wicket. It was difficult for us to get away as we lost a few wickets in the middle. It was nice to be able to contribute. It’s been raining a lot in Sydney but the wicket was good as the groundstaff prepared it early. Very thankful that we got to play.
Captain’s view
Dane van Niekerk | South African skipper: I felt good with the target we got. But we have to give credit to Australia for the way they bowled and we just came six short. We brought them back with the ball really well, they got off to a flier and we thought they’d get to 160. All the bowlers did really well, and credit to them for how they brought it back. It was very emotional to see the ladies like that. To come short every time is difficult , and we aren’t a team that blames anything or anyone; but unfortunately it just wasn’t our year and it wasn’t our day. It is a very talented team, Wolvaardt needs to get credit down the order. The way she has been going about her job is just incredible. It’s a strong side and everyone was in great spirits for the day. South Africa is a great place to come to for the next World Cup. Everybody will thoroughly enjoy South Africa.
Meg Lanning | Australian skipper: It was extremely tense. Even in the last couple of balls it just wasn’t safe. They needed 19 off the last over and we knew we had to nail it. But that’s T20 cricket for you; I was extremely nervous. We felt we had a good total without it being great. We felt that we needed to bowl really well to get the result we wanted. It was raining when we were coming out and we had a blueprint of how we had to bowl to them, from them. It has really just been about calming everyone down, the first few games just went on very quickly. We had to slow it down, and get back to playing the cricket that we wanted to. We weren’t good in the first couple of games and then the openers just set it up for us. It was just a mindset thing. We weren’t playing to our potential and the win against Sri Lanka perfectly set it up. India are a class side, they have been playing excellent cricket. We are going to have to play really well. We have been improving each day, it hasn’t been an easy road. We wanted to give ourselves a chance of playing in the finals, and now we just need to enjoy ourselves. We are travelling to Melbourne tomorrow, train on Saturday and play on Sunday. I doubt there’d be much sleep happening tonight. I wish the game was tomorrow itself. South Africa have played very well, hope Kapp is okay because you want the best players to be playing. They put up an excellent fight today and we had to go till the last ball.
Final Clash for the trophy
Australia who won South Africa by DLS method faces India who England as match abandoned due to rain at Melbourne on March 8-International women’s day.
