Laura Wolvaardt drove South Africa into the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals as her second T20I half-century helped them past Pakistan by 17 runs.The Proteas posted 136/6 thanks to a late flurry from 20-year-old Wolvaardt, who took four fours from the final eight balls of the innings.
And with Pakistan falling short with 119/5, South Africa earned a third successive win to join India in securing a place in Thursday’s semi-finals.A centurion against Thailand, Lizelle Lee (4) didn’t last long as Diana Baig took the edge and struck in her first over for the third game running.
Diana got just desserts for a probing opening spell when Dane van Niekerk (3) dragged on to end a difficult ten-ball stay. Marizanne Kapp ended the Powerplay with a wristy flick for four as South Africa reached 23/2.Mignon du Preez looked assured in advancing to 17 but mis-timed her reverse sweep off Nida Dar and played on to make it 54/3.
Wolvaardt came to the middle and struggled to get going with Kapp (31), who drilled to long-off for teenager Syeda Aroob Shah’s maiden Women’s T20 World Cup wicket.Nida dried up runs as the Proteas went 35 balls without a boundary before Wolvaardt lifted her over mid-off for four.
Wolvaardt’s abiding impact on the World Cup had been a stunning catch against Thailand but went through the gears with back-to-back fours off Aiman Anwar.South Africa’s score ticked past 100 in the 17th over and that saw Sune Luus depart for 12, looping Aiman to Omaima Sohail at point.
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