A four-wicket haul from Ashleigh van Wyk backed up by a whirlwind 24-ball 37 from opener Jemma Botha helped South Africa outclass Australia in the first semi-final by five wickets and confirm a place in the Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup final for the first time.

Electing to bat in sunny Kuala Lumpur, Australia were on the back foot immediately, with Ines McKeon trapped lbw first ball to fast bowler Nthabiseng Nini. Grace Lyons, promoted up the order, was then run out backing up too far at the bowler’s end, with captain Lucy Hamilton’s punch ricocheting off Nini’s fingers onto the non-striker’s stumps.

Hamilton and Caoimhe Bray were circumspect, with the South Africa bowlers sticking to a wicket-to-wicket line. Australia got their first boundary only midway into the fifth over, though Hamilton quickly added a couple more off Nini.

Then Kayla Reyneke,  the South Africa captain, struck in her first over, pinning her opposite number in front of the stumps, missing a sweep. Australia went 7.3 overs without a boundary, with South Africa putting on a spin strangle. Eleanor Larosa and Bray added 27 runs for the fourth wicket in 47 balls.

A stunning return catch from Seshnie Naidu saw the back of Larosa before van Wyk took control, ripping through the Australia lower middle order with four wickets in three overs. Australia needed Ella Briscoe’s unbeaten 17-ball 27 to take them to 105 for 8 on a good batting strip.

The chase wasn’t expected to be straightforward for South Africa, against an Australia attack that hadn’t conceded more than 100 even once in the tournament. Botha, though, wasted no time.

Batting well down the track to negate any movement, Botha got going with back-to-back fours against Larosa in the first over. Simone Lorens also started with a four but was soon castled by a Chloe Ainsworth in-ducker. But there was no stopping Botha. She smashed five fours and two sixes as South Africa raced to 50 for 2 after six overs.

With the foundation set, Reyneke took over and guided her side sedately towards their target. She stitched a 21-run stand with Botha and then a 38-run partnership Karabo Meso as South Africa coasted through the middle overs. Reyneke fell with South Africa three short of the target before Naidu took them home with 11 balls to spare.

Brief scores:
South Africa Women 106 for 5 in 18.1 overs  (Jemma Botha 37, Kayla Reyneke 26,Karabo Beso 19; Chole Ainsworth 1-19,  Lucy Hamilton 2-17, Hasrat  Gill 2-20) beat Australia Women 105 for 8 in 20 overs (Lucy Hamilton 18, Caoimhe Bray 36, Ella Briscoe 27*; Nthabiseng Nini 1-18, Kayla Reyneke 1-20, Seshnie Naidu 1-21,  Ashleigh van Wyk 4-17) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]