Australia qualify for semi-finals with impressive win over South Africa

MATCH CENTRE AND SCORECARD

The win for Australia ensures they will top Group 1 and ease through to the semi-finals of the tournament with a perfect record.

And victory was wrapped up by their powerful middle order, with Tahlia McGrath smashing a brilliant 57 from 33 balls, Ash Gardner finishing unbeaten on 28* and Grace Harris hitting the winning runs to the boundary off the first ball she faced.

Needing wickets, the Proteas front-loaded their attack in the Powerplay in search of early breakthroughs, but it took until the fifth over for a wicket to fall.

Ellyse Perry was the batter dismissed, caught by Chloe Tryon off Marizanne Kapp for 11 (8 balls).

And Meg Lanning was soon making the trudge back from the middle, clean bowled by the lively Nonkululeko Mlaba for 1.

Australia were still confident of reaching the target, even when a fizzer of a delivery from Kapp removed Beth Mooney for 20.

And their confidence proved well-placed, as the world’s top-ranked T20I batter struck a quickfire half-century in a partnership with Gardner worth 81 runs to put Australia on the brink of victory.

The winning moment came with three-and-a-half overs remaining, as Australia flexed their muscles ahead of the knockout stages.

Earlier, wickets tumbled through the second half of the first innings as Australia bounced back after a strong start from South Africa to restrict them to 124/6.

It was the defending champions who won the toss and opted to bowl first at St George's Park. But the classy combination of Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits made it through the Powerplay unscathed and brought up the fifty-run partnership in the ninth over.

Just when she was looking to accelerate after a watchful start, Wolvaardt was caught by Beth Mooney off Ellyse Perry to head back to the dugout for 19 from 28, sparking a collapse.

Kapp departed without scoring, Brits was denied a half-century when she fell for 45 from 36, and the dangerous Tryon fell cheaply as South Africa slipped to 77/4.

Luus stuck around to score 20 (24 balls), but late runs were hard to come by as South Africa finished on 124/6, with Nadine de Klerk unbeaten on 14* and Sinalo Jafta new at the crease after Luus fell in the final over.

It was a combined bowling effort from Australia, with seven bowlers used and five wicket-takers. Georgia Wareham’s 2/18 from three were the pick of the figures.

The Proteas will now have everything crossed that New Zealand do them a favour and beat Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Should they do so then South Africa will still have a good chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.

The Net Run Rate situation in Group 1 means that the tournament hosts would likely only need a win by any margin against Bangladesh in their final match to progress.

Should Sri Lanka beat New Zealand on Sunday then South Africa are out and the Lankans will join Australia in the semi-finals.

Alyssa Healy missed this game for Australia, with Ellyse Perry moving up the order. But that switch didn’t seem to impact their approach in the slightest, with Perry and Mooney very much in control as the opening pair.

And any chance that potential semi-final opponents might underestimate Australia’s middle order were quashed when Ash Gardner and Tahlia McGrath got a proper run out in the middle.

Gardner looked good in her 28*, but it was the brilliance of McGrath that lit up the game.

She came in at number five in this match and has dropped as low as seven in previous group games, which illustrates just how dangerously deep the Australian batting line-up is.

And even if McGrath does fail, Grace Harris is a more than handy hitter to come in next - with a career T20I average of 24.07 and a strike rate of 174.86.

It is going to take some bowling performance to stop this batting unit.