Australia women’s cricket team failed to qualify for the finals of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup for the first time. The Tahila McGrath-led side were outclassed by South Africa women by 8 wickets to make it to their second successive final. The six-time World Cup winners failing to qualify for the final comes as a watershed moment in women’s cricket, with SA-W springing a surprise on the Aussies by handing the latter their first-ever defeat to the Proteas eves.
SA-W stun AUS-W to punch ticket to Women’s T20 World Cup final
Batting first in the contest, Australia got off to a poor start, losing a couple of wickets within the first two overs. Grace Harris (3) and Georgia Wareham (5) were dismissed for single-digit scores. Beth Mooney (44) then steadied the ship for the Aussies along with skipper McGrath (27). Handy contributions from Ellyse Perry (31) and Phoebe Litchfield (16) propelled Australia to 134 runs at the end of 20 overs. However, the slow paced innings from AUS-W backfired as SA-W dominated the run-chase right from the word go.
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Laura Wolvaardt and Tazim Brits got the side off to a strong start in the run-chase. However, Brits was the first batter to depart as Anabel Sutherland finally found the breakthrough for the Aussies in the fourth over. Anneke Bosch and the South African skipper then took matters into their own hands, dominating Australia through the run-chase. The former smashed a gritty half-century off 31 deliveries that saw the batter play a variety of glorious shots all around the park.
Wolvaardt, however, couldn’t stay to take her team across the line as Australia found a delayed breakthrough at the fag end of the run-chase. Bosch stayed unbeaten on 74, as South Africa sealed a 8-wicket win with 16 balls to spare.
Australia miss Alyssa Healy firepower
Veteran Alyssa Healy was not a part of the semi-final clash despite being present at the venue on Friday. The star, who had suffered a neck injury during the group stage match, would have played a crucial role for Australia, given that the batting order would have received a significant boost. She was seen inspecting the pitch before the game, fueling speculations of her participation in the game but it was not to be.
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