Top of the standings and unbeaten, Australia will face India in the second of the semi-finals, while England will face South Africa in the second vs. third matchup in the first semi-final.

In their previous meeting at this World Cup, England defeated South Africa by 10 wickets in what was both their and South Africa’s first match of the league stages. Australia defeated their semi-final opponents, India, by 3 wickets in match 13 and the second week of the league stage.

Semi-final 1: England vs South Africa

South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt pulled off the best batting performance of the World Cup so far as she reached 169 runs off 143 balls to help South Africa to a comfortable-looking 319/7. Sophie Ecclestone was England’s best bowler, with her finishing the innings on 4/44 for an economy of 4.40.

It went from bad to worse for England as their first three wickets went out on ducks, leaving Nat Sciver-Brunt and Alice Capsey to begin the chase, which they did well, scoring 64 and 50 runs each. Marizanne Kapp helped her side confirm their place in the final as she ended the innings on 5/20 for an economy of 2.85 to build upon her batting performance of 42 runs off 33 balls.

Result: South Africa beat England by 125 runs.

Semi-final 2: India vs Australia

Phoebe Litchfield became the second batter to reach over a century in the semi-finals as she scored 119 runs off 93 balls, with both Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner surpassing half-centuries to leave Australia at 338 all out. Sree Charani and Deepti Sharma both took two wickets each to halt Australia’s progress towards the final.

The third century of the semi-finals was scored by India’s Jemimah Rodrigues, who hit 127 runs off 134 balls, whilst her captain Harmanpreet Kaur also came close to a century as she scored 89 runs off 88 balls. India claimed their place in the final as they completed their chase with five wickets remaining, despite two wickets apiece from Kim Garth and Annabel Sutherland.

Result: India beat Australia by 5 wickets.

The Final

A new name will be engraved on the Women’s Cricket World Cup trophy, as South Africa and India will meet in the final on 2nd November after they defeated England and Australia, respectively.

India will be looking to improve on their best finish in a Women’s Cricket World Cup, in which they finished as runners-up in both 2005 and 2017, whilst South Africa have already recorded their best-ever finish by making the final for the first time in the tournament’s history.