South Africa are into the last four again.
The Proteas Women confirmed their place in the semifinals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on Sunday, holding their nerve in a tense chase against Bangladesh at Lord’s before the result they needed arrived later in the day. Australia’s win over India in the evening fixture slammed the door shut behind them and sent the Proteas through as the second-placed side in their group.
For a team that walked off Old Trafford on the opening night nursing a heavy defeat, this is some recovery.
Cast your mind back two weeks. South Africa’s tournament began with a 65-run hammering by Australia, the kind of result that has fans bracing for another near-miss campaign. What followed instead was a statement. Four wins on the bounce, each one chipping away at the doubt, until qualification was no longer a hope but a near-certainty waiting on the maths.
The chase against Bangladesh was not pretty, and it did not need to be. Set 118 to win, the Proteas Women wobbled in patches before Annerie Dercksen steadied things with a run-a-ball 45 and Chloe Tryon saw the side home off the final over. Nonkululeko Mlaba was the pick of the bowlers with 2/22, squeezing the Bangladeshis to 117/5 on a surface that rewarded patience over flash.
There was history in it too. Shabnim Ismail trapped Taj Nehar in front to become the leading wicket-taker in Women’s T20 World Cup history, her 49th scalp in the competition. Few bowlers have terrorised batters across these tournaments the way she has, and the record is a fitting marker of it.
JAY | JPS SAYS: “Write them off at your peril. This is a side that lost its opener and then went and won four straight at a World Cup — that is not luck, that is a team that has learned how to dig in when it matters. The semifinals were never a surprise for these Proteas Women. The surprise would have been if they weren’t there.”
The run to qualification was built on more than one night’s grit.
The defining performance came against India in Manchester, where Marizanne Kapp produced one of the innings of the tournament. Chasing 159, the Proteas Women lost early wickets and looked in trouble before Kapp dug in for an unbeaten 81, peppering the boundary and dragging her side over the line. It went down as South Africa’s highest successful chase in a Women’s T20 World Cup, and it announced that this team had real fight in it.
Then came the demolition of the Netherlands in Bristol. Tazmin Brits walked out and played the innings of her life, an unbeaten 114 that stands as the second-highest individual score in Women’s T20 World Cup history, behind only Meg Lanning’s 126 from 2014.
Along the way Brits became just the second South African to pass 2,000 runs in women’s T20 internationals, joining her captain and opening partner Laura Wolvaardt in that club.
That is the shape of this campaign. A bowling attack with an all-time great leading it, a top order with genuine match-winners, and a middle that keeps finding a way when the openers don’t fire.
Now comes the part that has broken South African hearts before.
Ayabonga Khaka has been busy through the powerplay, picking up wickets and setting the tone. Mlaba has bowled with control in the middle overs. And when the batting has stumbled, someone has always stood up — Kapp against India, Brits against the Dutch, Dercksen against Bangladesh. It is the mark of a side that no longer leans on one or two names to carry it.
This is the fourth consecutive Women’s T20 World Cup semifinal for the Shabnim Ismail, a run that has quietly turned them into one of the most reliable knockout-stage sides in the women’s game. They are not gatecrashers at this stage anymore.
They belong here, and they have earned the right to be treated as a genuine threat rather than a feel-good story.
In 2024 they went one step further still, reaching the final before falling to New Zealand. That experience sits behind this group now, not as a wound but as a benchmark. They have been to the last day of a World Cup. They know what it takes to get there, and they know exactly what was missing.
Standing between them and another shot at it are the hosts.
The Proteas Women will meet England in the semifinals at The Oval in London, with the last-four stage running across the final days of the tournament. England have been formidable on home soil throughout this campaign, roared on by big crowds and carrying the weight of expectation that comes with hosting. They will start as favourites. They usually do.
But favouritism has not counted for much against this Proteas Women side. They were not supposed to chase down India. They were not supposed to recover from that opening-night beating. They have spent this entire tournament answering questions that were asked before a ball was bowled, and they will walk out at The Oval with nothing to lose and a final firmly in their sights.
The semifinal will be a test of nerve as much as skill. England have the firepower and the home advantage. South Africa have momentum, a settled top order, and a bowling attack that has tightened with every match.
For now, though, the Proteas Women have earned the right to enjoy this one. Four straight semifinals. A record-breaking night for Ismail. A century for the ages from Brits. And a place among the last four teams standing at a World Cup, booked on merit.
The job is not done. It was never going to be. But South Africa are exactly where they wanted to be, and exactly where they have proven they belong.
One more step, and they are back in a final.
📸 Images via Getty Images / Gallo Images / ICC
