South Africa beat Australia by 8 wickets: Women’s T20 World Cup – updates

That’s it for our live coverage of the first Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal.

South Africa shock the tournament by eliminating the all-conquering defending champions Australia – and in an emphatic way with an eight-wicket win.

Who will join them in Sunday’s final, though – West Indies or New Zealand?

We’ll have all the action from both Friday’s second semifinal and the showpiece finale itself and hope you can join us for the final countdown to find out who will be the 2024 champions.

For now, though – from me, Kevin Hand, it’s goodbye.

We’ll bring you all the build-up and full-text commentary of the second semifinal on Friday in Sharjah.

Will West Indies or New Zealand take their place in the final alongside South Africa?

The match starts at 6pm local time (14:00 GMT), but join us for our usual comprehensive, live build-up, if you can, for more than three hours of news, analysis, and insight.

“This is one of the best wins of my cricketing career – a couple of the other girls said that as well,” the South Africa captain said at the post-match ceremony.

“It’s been a good year for us. It’s been a real collective effort. With them being a winning side, you look for a weakness and, perhaps, we spent a bit more time analysing them for weakness than other sides.

“We said we have to get ahead of this rate early and put our foot down. That’s exactly what we did.”

On the second semifinal between West Indies and New Zealand, Wolvaardt added: “Both of those sides are really destructive on their day, so we will have a look.”

“It’s going to be pretty hard to take. We just didn’t show up tonight and you can’t do that in tournaments like this,” the stand-in Australia captain said.

“Full credit to South Africa but we just weren’t at our best. We had this World Cup in our minds for a long time now and were fine-tuned but just didn’t turn up.

“We found it tricky and South Africa bowled well. They took the pace off and made it hard for us to take risks. We thought 140 or 150 was par, but South Africa made it look easy and batted really well.

“We tried to keep it simple, but were just off our best and got punished. We hoped a few overs could swing it back, but it didn’t happen.”

The four favourites for the tournament are all out: Australia, England, India and Sri Lanka.

Will it be West Indies or New Zealand – two of the more unlikely finalists – to face South Africa in Sunday’s final?

“My heart is racing,” the South Africa batter said. “It was quite tough out there but I’m really glad we could get over the lines and I could get a couple of runs.

“The plan was to stick to what works, don’t overthink it and play what the conditions allowed.

“We knew we were capable of it and we had a good tournament coming into the game. Our batters and bowlers have been really good.”

It’s been 15 straight wins for the Aussies, but out they go at the semifinal stage this time.

At the eighth time of asking, the South Africans have finally beaten Australia at a World Cup. It’s only their second T20 win against the Aussies overall.

The injured Australia captain could only watch on as her side crashed out in spectacular style. An emphatic win for South Africa.

Defeated by Australia in the last final, will this team become the first South Africa side, men or women, to win a World Cup?

Fittingly, Bosch goes down on one knee to sweep the winning runs for four off Schutt. The defending champions are out!

Bosch takes a single into the covers off the last ball of the over and it’s four to win.

Bosch 70 (46), Tryon 1 (4).

The right-hander swings at her fourth ball to pick up a single to deep mid-wicket.

Bosch belts four through the covers off Sutherland and it’s seven to win off 22 for South Africa.

Bosch takes three off the first three balls of the over – no doubt wary that she must finish this. A single is taken third ball before Tryon pushes back her first three balls.

The right-hander hits the right-arm seamer straight to her opposite number at mid-off. Totally unnecessary. End of the 15th over.

Wolvaardt c McGrath b Sutherland 42 (37)

The players on the field and those in the dugout look shocked by what they are seeing. The all-dominant Australia are being humbled by South Africa.

It’s a cruise now for South Africa. Only one of the greatest chokes of all time can stop the Proteas now.

A total 19 needed from 36. Wolvaardt 40 (34), Bosch 58 (35).

Fresh from the fifty, Bosch reverses the last ball of Gardner’s over for four over short third. Ruthless and brilliant.

It’s 51 from 31 for the number three as she pushes a single into the covers. She’s driving her team to the final.