ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 : Anneke Bosch Hands Australia A Crushing Defeat To Guide South Africa To The Final

Spread the love

Anneke Bosch had nothing to lose. Anneke Bosch arduous 26-ball 18 against England in Sharjah had already led to questions over her latest batting promotion to no. 3, Anneke Bosch tournament-best in three attempts was a run-a-ball 25 against Bangladesh, and a reassessment was perhaps due once South Africa returned home from the T20 World Cup 2024, whenever that was.

But once when she took that fear of failure out the equation, Anneke Bosch ended up giving herself the most fulfilling redemption arc and South Africa a free pass to the finals at the expense of the mighty Australians.

After restricting Australia to 134 for 5, Anneke Bosch delivered a stunning performance, scoring a career-best 74* off 48 balls, leading South Africa to an eight-wicket victory in the first semi-final of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. Bosch’s knock, combined with captain Laura Wolvaardt’s 42, helped South Africa chase down the target with 16 balls to spare, securing a place in their second consecutive T20 World Cup final.

Pitch and Toss

63m and 57m square boundaries, the straight boundary is 73m. There are more runs on offer here, the color is lighter and there is not a lot of grass. Swing could be the key here, the fast bowlers will get something off the surface, variation for the spinners will be crucial. Early wickets would be the key with Mlaba being the key for South Africa, reckon Sana Mir and Pommie Mbangwa, in the pitch report.

South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt won the toss and chose to bowl with no changes in the playing XI. Australian skipper Tahila McGrath batting first also made no changes to the playing XI.

Mooney and McGrath Steady the Ship to carry Australia to 134 after 20 overs

South Africa Women invited Australia Women to bat first and sent back Grace Harris and Georgia Wareham early in the powerplay. Harris miscued a cut shot to Ayabonga Khaka’s length ball, with Bosch completing a fine low catch. On the other hand, Wareham fell prey to a fine review by Marizanne Kapp. Wareham unnecessarily chased the wide ball but managed to hit only the toe end of the bat. Wicket-keeper Sinalo Jafta didn’t make any mistake to send Georgia packing.

Australia crisis women under pressure turned out to be experienced, Beth Mooney and Tahila McGrath. The duo piled up 50 runs together as the Aussies went from 18/2 to 68/2 before McGrath fell to Nonkululeko Mlaba. Mooney also fell short of her half century as a miscommunication with Ellyse Perry led to her unfortunate run out. While Perry contributed 31 off 23 balls, Australia finished with 134/5 which appeared a below par total as per Dubai Stadium’s conditions.

Australia Women Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
Australia Women Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

South Africa’s approach was clear from the toss, opting to field first in a high-pressure game. Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka made early inroads with the new ball, using swing effectively. Khaka struck with her first delivery, dismissing Grace Harris, who slashed a length ball straight to backward point. Kapp, extracting swing in both directions, was rewarded with the wicket of Georgia Wareham, aided by a successful DRS review. Australia found themselves under pressure, managing only 35 for 2 in the powerplay, their lowest in this tournament.

Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath, often dubbed “McMooney” for their ability to rescue Australia, combined for a crucial 50-run partnership after the early wickets. McGrath hit two boundaries to end the powerplay, but runs were hard to come by, with her next boundary not coming until the 11th over. Her innings ended when she was caught at cover off Nonkululeko Mlaba.

Mooney, however, kept Australia in the game, reaching 44 off 42 balls and becoming the third Australian woman to cross 3000 T20I runs. Yet, her dismissal—run out after a brilliant piece of fielding by Kapp—halted Australia’s momentum. Despite a late surge from Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield, Australia’s total of 134 seemed below par given the conditions.

South Africa Women Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
South Africa Women Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Bereft of ideas they might have been by the end, this Healy-less Australia were also strangely insipid and lacking in attacking fervor at the start of this encounter, so much so that even getting to 135 was an arduous journey.

Beth Mooney, as is her wont in knockout games at T20 World Cups, provided the spine of the innings that stayed below a run-a-ball for the first 15 overs. Around her, Australia struggled for the kind of tempo they’ve been used to. The PowerPlay brought only 35 runs. At the half-way point, they were 53 for 2, having played as many as 31 dots.

Reduced to 18 for 2 early on by some excellent South African bowling, the pair of Mooney and stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath were tasked with putting Australia’s innings back on track, which they did with a 50-run stand. However, their partnership also saw a rather unproductive post-PowerPlay period against South Africa’s slow spin, a phase that brought only 18 runs and a solitary boundary between overs six and 10.

No sooner had McGrath found a boundary off Sune Luus than their opponents pegged Australia back, just when they appeared to have broken the shackles. With the first ball of her second over – the 13th of the innings – Nonkululeko Mlaba slowed down her pace even further and the over-eager McGrath was yanked out of shape in her attempted big hit and Annerie Dercksen completed a simple catch at backward point.

It was the left-arm spinner’s 10th wicket of the tournament and she would claim the top spot in the charts with one more wicket before the end of the innings.

Mooney, who hit only two boundaries in her knock, dealt in a diet of twos before she was run-out by a Marizanne Kapp, the South African veteran quick on the uptake to under-arm a direct hit at the striker’s end on her follow through. At 99 for 4 and with a set batter back in the hut, Australia were in dire need of a flourish in the final three overs.

Like in the India game, they were rescued by the pair of Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield. Having hit her first ball for four, the 21-year-old Litchfield brought much-needed energy to the innings, playing a pair of lovely against-the-turn, inside-out lofted drives off Mlaba for fours. At the other end of the experience spectrum, Perry continued to show her class. She and Litchfield managed 31 runs for the champions in the final three overs, but even they were not enough for Australia to hold on to that tag.

The clarity in South Africa’s thinking was evident at the toss, when they inserted Australia in a crunch game. Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka got enough swing with the new ball. In fact, Khaka did not even have to find out about the purchase to pick up a wicket. Her first ball in the game was a length ball that shaped away a touch and Grace Harris slashed into the hands of backward point.

Kapp had extracted enough movement both ways in the opening over. In her second, she saw a free hit being dispatched through square leg by Georgia Wareham. But she used the outswing to undo the batter, the DRS coming to South Africa’s aid. Kapp bowled one on good length around the fifth stump and Wareham couldn’t resist the slash. The on-field umpire missed the edge but Kapp and wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta knew.

Kapp was getting so much assistance that Wolvaardt gave her a third straight over inside the powerplay. Australia managed only 35 for 2 in the first six overs, their lowest in the phase in this T20 World Cup, and ended up facing 19 dots.

Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath are called “McMooney” by fans for their numerous rescue acts with the bat. They joined forces when Australia were 18 for 2 after three overs. McGrath ended the powerplay with two fours off Nonkululeko Mlaba’s over, but it felt the ball was not coming onto the bat. Wolvaardt exploited that by bringing spin on from both ends and McGrath’s next boundary was only in the 11th over. She fell a couple of overs later, hitting Mlaba straight to cover to end her 50-run stand with Mooney.

At that stage, it seemed Australia had the perfect base for take-off. Mooney, on 37 off 38 then, swiped one through square leg in the 16th over to end another boundary-less phase of 29 balls. In the process, she became the ninth woman – third from Australia – to 3000 T20I runs. But in a bid to steal a non-existent run – coupled with a Kapp brilliance – she was run out for 44 off 42 balls.

Despite that, Australia managed to get a strong finish, scoring 31 off the last three overs, thanks to Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield. But given what followed, it was not strong enough.

Laura Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch knock out Australia to advance to WT20 finals

Like Australia, South Africa also faced 19 dot balls in the first six overs. But they hit five fours and a six in that phase to finish on 43 for 1, the highest by any team against Australia in this T20 World Cup. But while Australia scored 21 in their nine attacking shots in the powerplay, South Africa managed 32 off ten. It began with Tazmin Brits unafraid of using her feet against Ashleigh Gardner and then against Megan Schutt, too. Brits hit Gardner for a six, clearing the leaping Annabel Sutherland at the rope.

Sutherland, though, struck with her first ball, getting a length delivery to skid and rattle Brits’ off stump. The time was ripe for Australia to apply the squeeze, but Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch had other ideas. The former first clubbed Sutherland over midwicket before Bosch hit back-to-back boundaries off Sophie Molineux in the sixth over. Wolvaardt also swung her Adelaide Strikers team-mate Darcie Brown over long-on for a massive six.

South Africa Women Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
South Africa Women Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Intent was writ large throughout South Africa’s chase with Bosch attempting a couple of reverse hits and being nimble on her feet against spin. South Africa had hit a four in every over from the third to the eighth. It was followed by three boundary-less over but Bosch broke the shackles by hitting Wareham for a four and six off back-to-back deliveries. She then went 4, 2, 4 against Gardner in the next over to bring up her fifty.

Wolvaardt fell – holing out to long-off – with South Africa only 14 away. Anneke Bosch duly finished it off to remain unbeaten on 74, her best T20I score.

Anneke Bosch produced the innings of the World Cup so far as South Africa knocked the six-time and defending champions Australia out of the tournament in the semifinal. And it needed a knock like the one Bosch produced at the Dubai International Stadium to backup a fine bowling performance and end Australia’s six-year hold on the trophy.

Australia Women Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
Australia Women Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Bosch scored 74* off just 48 balls, scoring eight fours and a six as South Africa chased down 135 with eight wickets and 16 balls to spare. It was South Africa’s first win over Australia in women’s T20 World Cups, making up for the heartbreaks of Cape Town 2023 and Sydney 2020. In her endeavour, Bosch was ably supported and complemented by captain Laura Wolvaardt, who made 42 in a 96-run second-wicket partnership that had an answer to every question posed by the holders.

Interestingly enough, for once the usually unflappable Australia didn’t have many questions to pose and were left playing reactive cricket in the face of this double-barreled assault. They perhaps didn’t see this coming after they’d broken the Wolvaardt-Tazmin Brits association in the fifth over of the chase. But South Africa have been strewing warnings to Australia, in last year’s final, in that rare victory in Canberra in January this year.

But there wers still some doubts about South Africa’s cred, particularly with their decision to play Anneke Bosch at one-drop, one they’d taken as recently as the Pakistan series, considering her early struggles on the slow wickets in this tournament.

Given South Africa weren’t chasing too many, there could have been a temptation for Anneke Bosch to ease her way into the innings and allow her senior partner and captain to drive the initiative while she found her form. Instead, off the second ball she faced, Bosch charged out towards Annabel Sutherland and middled a pull shot that needed a diving stop from Georgia Wareham to prevent a boundary.

Australia threw the left-arm spin – a perceived weakness – at her and Anneke Bosch’s response was to shuffle across beyond her off-stump to sweep a four and then follow that by charging out and lofting over mid-off for another boundary. It was a combination she would use throughout the course of her knock.

She was busy at the crease, imposing herself on every new bowler introduced into the attack. It was only after her initial triggers, vertically or horizontally, when there was absolutely no way to find a boundary did Anneke Bosch attempt to turn over strike.

There was no respite for Australia when that did happen. Wolvaardt, at the other end, made arguably the most emphatic statement of the changing guard by lifting Darcie Brown through the line and over long-on for a six, and holding her pose in the follow-through. All the early enterprise meant South Africa needed only 61 in the second half of their innings. And the chase was effectively closed out for all practical purposes after the 12th and 13th overs, which chopped off 27 runs from the remaining target.

Anneke Bosch slog-swept Wareham for a four and a six and took two more boundaries off Ash Gardner in the next over to complete a 31-ball half-century. Wolvaardt fell eight short of her own half-century, but when she was dismissed in the 15th over, her team was only 14 runs away and Anneke Bosch was about to complete the giant-killing act.

South Africa’s response was aggressive from the start. While both sides faced 19 dot balls in the powerplay, South Africa’s ability to find boundaries set them apart. Tazmin Brits played fearlessly, striking Ashleigh Gardner for a six early on. Though she was bowled by Annabel Sutherland, Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch quickly took control.

Wolvaardt hit Sutherland for a boundary, while Bosch found the gaps consistently, including back-to-back boundaries off Sophie Molineux. The pair’s intent was clear, with Wolvaardt launching Darcie Brown for a massive six over long-on.

Even after a brief boundary drought, Anneke Bosch unleashed with a flurry of runs, hitting Georgia Wareham for a four and a six in quick succession, followed by another strong over off Gardner to bring up her half-century. Wolvaardt’s dismissal with South Africa on the brink of victory didn’t deter Bosch, who finished the chase with a commanding 74*, guiding her side to a famous win.

South Africa was undoubtedly proud of their efforts with the ball, and the confidence was visible in the chase as Laura Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch stitched up a 96-run mega partnership for the second wicket after Tazmin Brits were cleaned up by Anna Sutherland’s pacey delivery that nipped back in to disturb the batter’s stumps. Regardless, Wolvaardt and Bosch controlled the required run rate and steered the chase to a run-a-ball ask.

The semi-final one night belonged to Anneke Bosch as her aggressive intent, coupled with brilliant running between the wickets with Laura Wolvaardt, steered South Africa to a cruising chase. Anneke Bosch hit 74 off 48 balls, with Wolvaardt also contributing 42 off 37 balls to wrap up a successful chase with 16 balls to spare as South Africa Women advanced to the ultimate finals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Presentations and Road Ahead

Laura Wolvaardt the winning SA skipper said : [on where does this win rank in her career] I think it is right up there, it is one of the best wins of my cricketing career for sure. Couple of other girls said it as well. Such an amazing chase, Anneke batted superbly. It has been a good year for us, really collective group effort, we maybe analyzed a bit more about the other teams, glad some of the plans worked and I thought the bowlers bowled excellently to restrict them.

We did not have the best two overs at the start of the game, and Taz and I had a chat and we needed to put the foot down and Anneke played her role brilliantly as well, gave us the kick. One of the best of her career and what a time to bring it up.

[on whom she prefers in the final, West Indies or New Zealand] I really don’t know, both sides are destructive on their day, West Indies look like favorites right now but you can’t discount Amelia Kerr and co. [on the crowd support] Nice crowd and lots of South Africans in there.

Tahila McGrath the loosing Australia skipper said : It’s going to be pretty hard to take. We just didn’t really show up tonight. You can’t afford to do that in tournaments like this. Full credit to South Africa, they outplayed us tonight. We have had this World Cup in our minds for a very long time now. We worked really hard over the off-season, fine-tuning some things. We really were prepped coming into here.

Felt like we left no stone unturned. Just didn’t show up on the night. [on their batting innings] We found it quite tricky, South Africa bowled quite well, took the pace off and they made it tough for us to take risks, at the halfway stage, felt 140-150 was par but South Africa batted so well and made it look like it was a totally different wicket. [on their bowling plans]

We were trying to keep it really simple on that wicket and we couldn’t execute and got punished, we kept saying a couple of overs and a couple of wickets, so that we could wrestle the momentum back but we could not do it.

Schutt has been huge for us this tournament, she leads from the front, takes poles for fun and the youngsters, Phoebs and Bells are coming through, so we have a really good future. We have got a really big summer to finish first. There is always something next on the calendar.

Anneke Bosch Player of the Match for 74 not out said : My heart is racing a lot, it was tough out there, glad we got past the line. I’m happy to have contributed some runs. Just keep scoring those runs, play with the conditions around and stick to what you do best (on the chat with Wolvaardt).

His speeches before the game helps us focus on the game (On Paul Adams, the coach). It means a lot, can’t really describe, we knew we were capable, had a pretty good tournament coming into the game.

Our bats, Taz (Brits) and Laura (Wolvaardt) have been incredible, the bowlers have been superb right through the tournament and to restrict them for under 140 tonight was outstanding. Thanks to all the support from our fans, we had plenty of them last time around (when they hosted the tournament in 2023), but they’ve stood by us and keep supporting us going ahead to the final.

This is a red-letter day in Women’s cricketing annals. Consider this: Since 2009, there have been 7 T20 World Cups and Australia has won 6 of them and lost in the final in the other. So this achievement from South Africa is something that has to be written in bold and capital letters. Look at the emotions from some of the members in the South African camp. Mlaba is in tears and she is enveloped in a big hug as she is lifted by captain Wolvaardt for a good 20-25 seconds.

It means so much to them. Coming back to the chase – what a time and moment to do this, South Africa had never beaten Australia before in a World Cup game in this format and also the 96-run stand between Bosch and Wolvaardt was their highest for any wicket against Australia in T20Is. Records tumbled today as South Africa slayed one of the most dominating teams ever in any sport. And they did it with such ease too. 16 balls were left in a chase of 135 and Australia at the end were well beaten.

Wolvaardt and Brits set the tone before the partnership for the 2nd wicket shut all avenues for Australia. There was intent, aggression and great stroke making especially from Bosch who played the innings of her life. The duo gave Australia no chances of a comeback and the late wicket of Wolvaardt’s was just scant consolation for Australia. Special day in South African cricket history.

A glorious day for South African cricket and women’s cricket in particular as they have knocked the great Australian side out of this World Cup. Just one more game awaits them and their tryst with destiny. We saw the men’s side fall short in the final against India, will this women’s side go one better. The second semi-final is between New Zealand and West Indies.

This victory was South Africa’s second over Australia in T20Is, having defeated them earlier this year. The win marked the end of Australia’s run of seven consecutive finals in the Women’s T20 World Cup, and placed South Africa one step away from their maiden world title.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: “Side Arm Specialists In India Need To Work Hard To Prepare Batters For Tough Times”- Abhishek Jain Gives His Invaluable Insights

 

 


Spread the love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *