England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt led from the front on her return from injury with a superb 75 in a 40-run Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final against South Africa at the Oval on Thursday.
England, sent in to bat, collapsed 23-3 in four overs in front to spark fears of another knockout defeat in a showpiece event.
But Sciver-Brunt, back after missing the last three group matches with a calf injury, struck back to the delight of a crowd of more than 21,000.
She received excellent support from former skipper Heather Knight (58) as the two survivors of the last England team to win a major international trophy – the 2017 50-over World Cup – turned the tide with a fourth-wicket partnership of 133 that took their side to a total of 169-5.
Tournament hosts England will face arch-rivals Australia in Sunday’s final at Lord’s. Both teams won their six matches.
A chase of 170 was always going to be a tough task for South Africa and they finished well behind at 129-8.
“I was probably nervous, the occasion is getting quite big as well and that increased the nervousness,” Sciver-Brunt, the player of the match, said at the presentation ceremony. “I missed a few games (because of my injury). There was a lot of emotion before the game.”
“We have our heads together”
She added: “Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail are world-class opening bowlers who can do damage. So Heather and I wanted to negate the threat and make sure we were present and able to capitalize on the other bowlers. We used our experience, competed and got the job done.
“We showed composure. We could have tried to go harder earlier and it might not have worked, so we were very smart.”
Kapp took 1-16 in his maximum four overs and Ismail took 2-31.
But the combined seven wicketless overs of Ayabonga Khaka and Nadine de Klerk cost 79 runs.
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt said her team had been “outclassed”, adding: “We were happy with 170, which we thought was par. They played well, had good plans and we couldn’t build momentum.”
Earlier, South Africa got off to a brilliant start by claiming three English wickets in the first four overs.
Fast bowler Ismail struck with her first ball, Amy Jones going straight to strike.
England opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge, whose previous five innings had yielded a tournament record 282 runs at an outstanding average of 94, was bowled just 12 times by Kapp’s well-disguised slower ball.
England were three down when Alice Capsey was up against Ismail.
But Sciver-Brunt and Knight, the 2017 World Cup-winning England skipper, reignited the innings.
Sciver Brunt, 33, at her home ground of Surrey, made a fine fifty when she whipped De Klerk to mid-wicket for a ninth four off 35 balls faced.
Knight, 35, swept Khaka for a huge six to move to a 42-ball fifty and Sciver-Brunt also cleared the ropes by hoisting de Klerk over mid-wicket.
Sciver-Brunt and Knight fell in the penultimate over to left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba (2-25), but by then the damage was done.
South Africa suffered a major setback in their chase when skipper Wolvaardt was well caught in the 17th over by a leaping Sophie Ecclestone at mid-off against spinner Linsey Smith.
The Proteas’ 43-1 quickly turned into 49-2 when Annerie Dercksen clipped a slower ball from Freya Kemp at point.
England then captured the key wicket of Kapp for just five when the all-rounder, trying to turn off Charlie Dean’s leg side, took the lead and caught a delighted Sciver-Brunt softly at extra cover.
South African opener Tazmin Brits made fifty at better than a run-a-ball before falling to Dean.
The Proteas, who beat England in the semi-finals of the 2023 edition and in last year’s 50-over World Cup, are now all but beaten at 95-5.
Six-time champions Australia qualified for the final with an eight-wicket defeat to the West Indies in Tuesday’s first semi-final at the Oval.
