LONDON — The final group stage matchday of the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup delivered a tense opening contest at Lord’s on Saturday, with South Africa securing a hard-fought four-wicket victory over Bangladesh that forced India into a do-or-die battle against unbeaten Australia for the last semifinal spot on Sunday.
Going into the final round of group matches, two elite sides — India, the reigning 50-over ODI world champions, and South Africa, runners-up at the previous two T20 World Cup tournaments — were locked in a tight fight for the fourth and final remaining place in the knockout round. Australia, having won every match it has played so far in the competition, had already secured its own place in the semifinals barring an unprecedented catastrophic collapse, leaving the final knockout spot down to the contest between South Africa, India and Bangladesh.
The historic London ground hosted a day-night doubleheader, and the opening fixture brought no shortage of drama even before the first over of play concluded. In an extremely rare statistical quirk, both teams lost their star top batters to the very first delivery of their respective innings. Opening batter Juairiya Ferdous of Bangladesh swung and missed at a fast ball from South African pace bowler Marizanne Kapp, becoming the South African speedster’s 100th career wicket in T20 international matches. Just hours later, in South Africa’s batting innings, Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt fell to Bangladesh seamer Marufa Akter, bowled through the gap between her bat and leg pad for a golden duck. This rare pair of opening golden ducks had only occurred once before in the history of the Women’s T20 World Cup, during a 2018 contest between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, Bangladesh struggled against South Africa’s well-rounded bowling attack. Led by Kapp’s tight 1-for-9, Shabnim Ismail’s 1-for-15, and spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba’s 2-for-22, Bangladesh could only post a total of 117 for 5 after their full 20 overs. Batter Sobhana Mostary top-scored for the side with 42 runs, while captain Nigar Sultana finished unbeaten on 32 runs from just 20 deliveries, pushing her to the top of Bangladesh’s run-scoring chart for the 2024 tournament.
South Africa got a solid opening start from Annerie Dercksen and Tazmin Brits in their chase, but regular wickets kept the result uncertain right up to the final overs. Dercksen was caught behind the wicket in the 15th over, Kapp was run out in the 18th, and Nadine de Klerk fell in the 19th, putting the result in doubt before all-rounder Chloe Tryon scrambled two unconvincing miscued shots to cross the finish line and secure the four-wicket win.
Following the hard-earned win, Kapp acknowledged the scrappy nature of the victory, telling reporters: “We seem to always do this but we take the win. A win is a win. Even if it was very scrappy.”
South Africa’s win puts pressure firmly on India, who currently hold a narrow advantage over South Africa on net run rate. To lock in their place in the semifinals, India must defeat Australia in the second match of the Lord’s doubleheader to claim the final knockout spot, in one of the most anticipated final group stage matches in recent Women’s T20 World Cup history.