156/10 (38.0)
CR : 4.11
293/8 (50.0)
CR : 5.86
England Women won by 137 runs
Player of the Match
Danielle Nicole Wyatt-Hodge
129(125)
37.5
0
S Ecclestone to T Chetty
Length ball on the off. Chetty blocks it back at Ecclestone.
37.6
W
S Ecclestone to T Chetty
WICKETT!!! That's it. Tosses it on the off. Chetty comes down the pitch and misses the slog. Jones behind the stumps does the rest. Six-fur for Ecclestone and what an turnaround by England Women. They have reached to the final. England won by 137-runs.
T Chetty 21(28)
st A Jones b S Ecclestone
4s/6s
1/0
SR
75.00
ENGW won by 137 runs
Akshaya: Yes, that's it. England Women proved to be too strong for the Proteas Women's here. South Africa Women have been bundled out for 156-runs here. England Women win by 137-runs and will face Australia Women in the final on Sunday at Hagley Oval. This is a record as no other team has reached the finals after losing their first two games. Don't drop catches and you see two teams that have lost in the semis because of that.
What a semi-final we had? Not the thriller but was a great game for the England side. England were put into bat. With England Women side were struggling at 77/3. I think South Africa had upper hand. If they didn't drop Danielle Wyatt thrice before her hundred then the things could have been different. Wyatt then had a crucial couple of partnerships. One with Amy Jones (49-runs for the 4th wicket) and the other one, a big one. She added 116-runs which turns out to be crucial here. She along with Sophia Dunkley pushed the pressure back on to the South African Women side. It was Wyatt's first hundred in the World Cups, Dunkley continued her form with the bat to get past her fifty as well. A late cameo of 24 from 11-balls took South Africa away from the finals. 293/8 was what England posted.
Chasing the mammoth total of 294, was always going to be a daunting task. Anya Shrubsole who till today had a poor tournament, came back strongly with her banana swingers. A sharp caught and bowled to dismiss the top batter, Laura Wolvaardt set the death rattle for the Proteas side. They really didn't recover from this and lost wickets at regular intervals. The middle order batters of South Africa Women's got the starts but the total was too big for their liking as they gave away their wickets in the pressure of increasing required run rate. 20s for Lara Goodall, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp, and Trisha Chetty wasn't even enough for the team to reach at least the 200-run mark. The top scorer of the Proteas Women's innings was their senior batter Mignon du Preez. She chipped in with a 30. It was Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone in the middle overs who took control and are responsible for the pavilion parade of the batting side. Dean ended with a wicket in her 10-overs with an economy rate of 4.1. But it was all down to Sophie Ecclestone. She ran through the middle and lower order of the South African Women side with a six-fur. 8-0-36-6 does it get any better than it? She is the No.1 ranked ODI bowler for a reason. She used her height and turn available on the surface for a good effect. Trisha Chetty was the last to go as South Africa Women's were skittled out just for 156 in 38-overs.
Who would have thought that England Women after losing three in a row to start with will make it's appearance for the fifth time in the finals. This will be the first time since 1988 Women's World Cup Final that England Women will face Australia Women in the finals. So all set for a exciting finish on Sunday at Christchurch. And it will be the Ashes rivals who will collide against each other for another silverware in their trophy cabinet.
What a semi-final we had? Not the thriller but was a great game for the England side. England were put into bat. With England Women side were struggling at 77/3. I think South Africa had upper hand. If they didn't drop Danielle Wyatt thrice before her hundred then the things could have been different. Wyatt then had a crucial couple of partnerships. One with Amy Jones (49-runs for the 4th wicket) and the other one, a big one. She added 116-runs which turns out to be crucial here. She along with Sophia Dunkley pushed the pressure back on to the South African Women side. It was Wyatt's first hundred in the World Cups, Dunkley continued her form with the bat to get past her fifty as well. A late cameo of 24 from 11-balls took South Africa away from the finals. 293/8 was what England posted.
Chasing the mammoth total of 294, was always going to be a daunting task. Anya Shrubsole who till today had a poor tournament, came back strongly with her banana swingers. A sharp caught and bowled to dismiss the top batter, Laura Wolvaardt set the death rattle for the Proteas side. They really didn't recover from this and lost wickets at regular intervals. The middle order batters of South Africa Women's got the starts but the total was too big for their liking as they gave away their wickets in the pressure of increasing required run rate. 20s for Lara Goodall, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp, and Trisha Chetty wasn't even enough for the team to reach at least the 200-run mark. The top scorer of the Proteas Women's innings was their senior batter Mignon du Preez. She chipped in with a 30. It was Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone in the middle overs who took control and are responsible for the pavilion parade of the batting side. Dean ended with a wicket in her 10-overs with an economy rate of 4.1. But it was all down to Sophie Ecclestone. She ran through the middle and lower order of the South African Women side with a six-fur. 8-0-36-6 does it get any better than it? She is the No.1 ranked ODI bowler for a reason. She used her height and turn available on the surface for a good effect. Trisha Chetty was the last to go as South Africa Women's were skittled out just for 156 in 38-overs.
Who would have thought that England Women after losing three in a row to start with will make it's appearance for the fifth time in the finals. This will be the first time since 1988 Women's World Cup Final that England Women will face Australia Women in the finals. So all set for a exciting finish on Sunday at Christchurch. And it will be the Ashes rivals who will collide against each other for another silverware in their trophy cabinet.
Danielle Wyatt is the Player of the Match for her brilliant century.
Danielle Wyatt | Player of the Match: "Really
happy. It was a complete performance tonight from the girls and a couple of days
off before the big final. Dunks has been brilliant in this tournament. He has
been mature and a cool head above her shoulders. Really happy for her. It was a
wet wicket and it was difficult to start on. We ran well between the wickets. I
Love opening the batting. Just got two fielders outside the circle and get the team
off to a good start. I will dedicate this award to the team. We have been
together for a few weeks and it has been a long time."
Sune Luus | South Africa Skipper: "I think we
didn’t have the best of the fielding performances today and England played extremely
well. Congrats to Heather and her team. I think we needed to be clinical today but we weren’t. We showed great competitiveness throughout the World Cup and
taking positives from it. We have done extremely well in the crunch moments and
proud of the team. It’s a big honour to play in the World Cup and it was a good
campaign for South Africa and I won’t be taking away anything from that. I hope
when we get home, everyone is proud of the team."
Heather Knight | England Skipper: "Really
pleased with the effort. It was a complete performance from us today which we
have been searching for actually. Girls have brought their best cricket when
everything is on the line and playing knockout games for the last four matches
has really helped us. Wyatt is outstanding and she was selective in which balls
to hit. She didn’t get frustrated on finding the fielders. That partnership with
Dunkley took the game away from South Africa. Sophie has been brilliant for us.
She along with Charlie Dean bowled nicely in the middle overs. Ecclestone’s
innings in the death overs helped us get some momentum. Excited for the final.
We will go as underdogs but we are equal on the morning of the final. One final
effort and looking forward to the final."
So that's it from this wonderful semi-final. England Women will now play the unbreachable Australia Women in the finals on April 3, 2022. It's a ta-ta bye, bye from us. I am AkshayaKrihsna Polya who is signing off on behalf of my beloved co-commentator Akshay Bhide and scorer/analyst Ashok. We will meet in the next game. Until then, it's cheers..!!!