South Africa took an unbeaten record into the T20 World Cup semi-finals after overcoming an inspired performance from Sikandar Raza (73 off 43 and 3 for 29). Aiden Markram’s men successfully chased down a target of 154 in Delhi and will now travel to Kolkata to face New Zealand in the first of what they will hope are two knockout matches.

He scored 73 of the 98 runs that Zimbabwe got while he was in the middle. That included 12 of the team’s 13 boundaries. His strike rate was nearly 170. The other end’s was 86.

Between overs 4.3 and 16.3, Raza was all that mattered. He showed game smarts when he saw South Africa turn to their change bowler to get out of the powerplay and smashed Corbin Bosch for 15 runs. He showed a simplicity of method. Clearing the front leg was the only premeditation he afforded himself. From there, if the ball was pitched up, he would present the full face and crack it through the off side. If it was short, he would go horizontal bat and whack it over the leg side.

Kwena Maphaka19, was playing only his second game of the T20 World Cup. He was able to hit speeds in the low 140kph. He got movement with both the new ball and the old one. He signed off his spell – 4-0-21-2 – with a wicked offcutter that the batter just wasn’t ready for. And he took down the man who was taking down everyone else. Maphaka went around the wicket to Raza in the 17th over and got one to straighten on the batter, who, playing for the initial angle and closing the bat face, ended up popping a skier to David Miller at point.

With Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen rested ahead of the semi-finals, South Africa’s bench players had an opportunity to step up and they did pretty well. Left-arm spinner George Linde opened the bowling and came away with figures of 3-0-22-1. Anrich Nortje chipped in with 4-0-29-1.

Opening the bowling in the chase, he recorded the 41st instance of an off-spinner dismissing a left-hand batter in this T20 World Cup. Quinton de Kock was out for a duck.

Raza turned his sights on his opposite number then. He stashed the ball on top of a bent middle finger. The carrom ball grip. Markram didn’t clock it. He only responded to the length of the ball which was a touch short. Markram went back and wound up to hit it over the leg side. Next second, his middle stump was on the ground. Undefeated South Africa were 14 for 2 in the third over.

At the other end, Brad Evans produced a back-of-the-hand bouncer that hit Ryan Rickelton on the helmet and left him in the South Africa team doctor’s care for several long minutes. Eventually he was cleared of his concussion and he seemed set on showing he wasn’t too fazed by the blow, hitting three sixes off his next five balls. But when he tried to take on Evans’ short ball again, he toe-ended it and Ryan Burl on the deep-square-leg boundary took a great catch (after initially running in too far). Back playing a day game, Zimbabwe’s fielding mistakes vanished. They don’t play a lot of floodlit cricket back home and dropped several catches when they gave up 254 against West Indies and 256 against India.

South Africa finished the powerplay on 43 runs and lost three wickets in the process. That paired Brevis (42 off 18) with Miller and resulted in some of the most eye-catching strokeplay of the game, even if Brevis wasn’t particularly interested in following one of the balls he hit into the crowd at long-on. The fourth-wicket partnership steadied the chase with 50 runs in 25 balls.

Castle Corner was in the crowd in Delhi. Dancing all the way. Zimbabwe drew on those positive vibes to break the stand that was taking the game away from them, Blessing Muzarabani knocking over Miller to pick up his 12th wicket and go to No. 2 on the list of top wicket-takers in this tournament and Raza dismissing Brevis four balls later. South Africa were 101 for 5 in the 11th over chasing 154. They were still favourites but they had been pushed.

Brief scores:
South Africa 154 for 5 in 17.5 overs  (Dewald Brevis 42, Ryan  Rickelton 31, David Miller 22, Tristan Stubs 21*, George Linde 30*; Sikandar Raza 3-29, Blessing Muzarabani 1-32, Brad Evans 1-22) beat Zimbabwe 153 for 7 in 20 overs (Brian Benett 15, Dion Myers 11, Sikandar Raza 73, Clive Madande 26*; George Linde 1-22, Kwena Maphaka 2-21, Lungi Ngidi 1-29, Anrich Nortje 1-29, Corbin Bosch 2-40)  by five wickets

[Cricinfo]

Having spent the first five matches wanting to bat first – and getting their wish in four of those matches even though they won just one toss – India elected to chase on a slightly overcast Kolkata night. Eden Gardens has historically been a difficult ground to defend, which is why even Shai Hope’s West Indies would have chased had they won the toss.

India chose to stick with the XI that won them the first of four must-win matches they found themselves facing after the defeat to South Africa last Sunday. That means Sanju Samson continued to stay in as the opener and the wicketkeeper at the expense of the lower-middle-order muscle of Rinku Singh, who also lost his father between the two matches. Rinku was back with the squad after the funeral.

West Indies made one change to the XI that lost to South Africa in their last match. They left out opener Brandon King for the left-arm spin of allrounder  Akeal Hosein.  That meant West Indies had three varieties of spin at their disposal: offspin of Roston Chase,  left-arm spin of Hosein, and a mix of left-arm fingerspin and wristspin of Gudakesh Motie.

India Abhishek Sharma,  Sanju Samson (wk),  Ishan Kishan,  Tilak Varma,  Suryakumar Yadav (capt),  Hardik Pandya,  Shivam Dube,  Axar Patel,  Arshdeep Singh,  Jasprit Bumrah,  Varun Chakravarthy

West Indies Roston Chase,  Shai Hope (capt, wk),  Shimron Hetmyer,  Rovman Powell,  Sherfane Rutherford,  Romario Shepherd,  Jason Holder,  Matthew Forde,  Akeal Hosein,  Gudakesh Motie,  Shamar Joseph

[Cricinfo]

Alyssa Healey  produced a fairytale farewell to ODI cricket with a stunning 158 from 98 balls in her final innings while Beth Mooney made an unbeaten century as Australia thumped 409 for 7 to trounce India in Hobart and ensure they can’t be beaten in the multi-format series with just the Perth Test to play.

Healy, who battled a calf issue during her innings that she put down to “getting old”, produced a vintage performance the equal of any of her best innings across a glittering career. She smashed 27 fours and two sixes in a staggering display to become just the sixth woman, and second Australian, to post two 150-plus scores in ODIs and the second fastest 150 off 95 balls. It was also the highest score in a women’s ODI in Australia, the highest anywhere against India, and she joined Johmari Logtenberg as the only other woman to score a century in their final ODI.

Mooney played the silent partner in a 145-run stand with Healy but then picked up the slack to reach her sixth ODI century in the final over off just 82 balls and finished with 106 from 84. Australia had lost 4 for 37 at the start of the last 10 but Nicola Carey smashed 34 not out off 15 to help Australia race past 400.

India’s chase never got going as regular wickets meant the required run-rate got out of control. Jemimah Rodrigues made 42 off 29 but India gave up on the chase after she fell. Alana King ripped through the middle-order to take 4 for 33. Sneh Rana top-scored at No.9 with 44 as they were bowled out for 224, 185 short of the target.

The game turned into such a procession that when India were 164 for 7, needing 246 from 18 overs to win, Healy indulged herself by bowling the first two overs of her international career.

The win completed a 3-0 ODI series sweep against the reigning world champions who knocked Australia out in the semi-final last year. It also meant Australia took an 8-4 points lead in the multi-format series with India only able to draw the series given just four points are on offer for the win in the lone Test that starts on Friday in Perth.

Healy was earlier supported well by Georgia Voll who made 62 from 52 in a 104-run stand. India’s bowlers had a difficult day with Shree Charani becoming only the third woman to concede 100-plus runs in an ODI innings. She was one of three bowlers to concede more than 80 runs in the innings, doubling the number of India bowlers to have ever conceded that many.

Extraordinarily, Healy’s innings began by facing a maiden from Renuka Singh after she had walked through a guard of honour from India having been sent into bat. A trademark pull shot off Kashvee Gautam got her innings going. She added two more boundaries before receiving a slice of luck off Renuka when an lbw shout was given not out but DRS revealed it was umpire’s call on hitting leg stump.

The close call sharpened her focus. She played with great control to reach 50 off 49 balls.

Voll outpaced her skipper, continuing the crisp ball-striking she showed during her century in the second ODI on the same surface on Friday.

After some early edges found the rope she cruised to 48 before chipping Gautam to cover where Harmanpreet Kaur dropped a straightforward chance diving forward after misjudging the flight.

Voll reached 50 off 42 three balls later and thumped two more boundaries off Charani. But the return of Rana forced an error. First ball Voll jumped down to whip over midwicket and miscued wastefully to long-on with Harleen Deol holding on.

Healy felt her calf cramp not long after and started unfurling a full array of pulls, sweeps, glides and lofted drives over cover and mid-on. She had another slice of luck when Rana missed a difficult chance at short fine that went untouched to the fence.

Healy reached her eighth ODI century, the equal second-most for an Australian woman, off just 79 balls. Her assault on Charani immediately after was vicious. She took 23 off an over including four strikes over the off-side ring and a slog sweep over long-on. She followed that with another slog sweep off Deepti Sharma that landed in the dugout.

She needed just 16 balls to go from 100 to 150. A double century looked on, but her calf was clearly a problem. After a dazzling display of conventional strokeplay she attempted a bizarre premeditated reverse paddle sweep to a rank full toss from Rana and was bowled behind her back with 13.3 overs left in the innings.

Mooney’s innings mirrored Healy’s in many ways. She was 2 off 12 and before accelerating to reach 50 off 53. But her second fifty took just 29 balls as she showcased her incredible 360-degree skills.

She only struck 10 boundaries and one six but no two boundaries went in the same zone as she faced just two dot balls in her last 40 to finish off the innings alongside Carey, who thumped 22 from Charani’s last over including a stunning reverse sweep for six over point.

India’s chase started brightly with Pratika Rawal and Rodrigues racing to 62 inside eight overs after the early loss of Smriti Mandhana. Australia’s 19-year-old debutant Lucy Hamilton was driven repeatedly by Pratika and lapped relentlessly by Rodrigues. But Pratika was adjudged lbw to Annabel Sutherland, with ball tracking showing it was only just clipping leg. Rodrigues then fell to Ash Gardner, top edging a sweep to Hamilton at short fine.

India completely stalled thereafter with Deol run out after a mix-up and Harmanpreet trapped plumb lbw to King. It was the first of three lbw’s for Australia’s legspinner. She also clean bowled Richa Ghosh to continue her love affair with Bellerive Oval.

Brief scores:
Australia Women 409 for 7 in 50 overs (Alyssa Healy 158, Beth Mooney 106*, Georgia Voll 62; Shree Charani 2-106, Sneh Rana 2-66) beat India Women 224 in 45.1 overs (Sneh Rana 44, Jemmimah Rodrigues 42; Alana  King 4-33, Georgia Wareham 2-03) by 185 runs

[Cricinfo]