South Africa beat Bangladesh by 10 wickets in semi-finals of Women’s T20 World Cup

Cape Town. Laura Wolvaardt and Tajmin Brits struck unbeaten half-centuries and put on an unbroken 117-run opening partnership as South Africa thrashed Bangladesh by 10 wickets to enter the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup here on Tuesday. South Africa will thus take on Group Two toppers England in the second semi-final to be held here on Friday. England haven’t lost a match yet. South Africa finished behind defending champions Australia in Group I, having won all four of their matches.

South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka finished with four points each after their group matches. But the hosts had the better net run rate of +0.738 among all the three teams, which helped them reach the semi-finals.New Zealand and Sri Lanka have a net run rate of +0.138 and -1.460 respectively. The Sune Luus-led side thus became the first South African team – men or women, junior or senior – to reach the last four of an ICC World Cup held on their own soil. Wolvaardt (66 not out from 56 balls) and Brits (50 not out from 51 balls) scored their team’s first half-centuries of the tournament as South Africa chased down Bangladesh’s target of 114 with 13 balls to spare.

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The hosts reached the semi-finals on Tuesday by scoring 117 runs without losing wickets in 17.5 overs. Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat, with captain Nigar Sultana top-scoring for them with 30 runs. Ayabonga Khaka and Marijane Kapp took two wickets each for South Africa. Whereas Shabnim Ismail and Nankululeko Malaba got one wicket each. For South Africa, Wolvaardt hit seven fours and a six in his innings while Brits hit four fours.