The South Africa U19 Women have made the ICC T20 World Cup final after beating Australia convincingly in the semi-final on Friday.
It was a clinical victory for the Junior Proteas, who were asked to field first in Kuala Lumpur.
Nthabiseng Nini gave her team the perfect start, trapping Ines Mckeon lbw on the first ball of the game for a duck. She followed that up by getting a finger to a Lucy Hamilton drive, which went on to hit the stumps catching Grace Lyons short of the crease.
Australia tried to recover through Hamilton (18) and Caoimhe Bray (36), the top scorers for their side, but SA continued take regular wickets. This broke any momentum that Australia built.
The key destroyer for SA was Ashleigh van Wyk who took 4-17, which included the prized wicket of Bray caught and bowled for 36 in the 17th over.
Van Wyk was the Player of the Match for her side, as the Proteas restricted Australia to 105-8 in 20 overs.
Despite losing 5 wickets, South Africa got over the line quite comfortably. Their chase was led by Jemma Botha and captain Kayla Reyneke, who contributed 37 off 24 balls and 26 off 26 balls respectively.
Karabo Meso also contributed with 19, but lost her wicket in the 15th over with 12 runs needed to win. Reyneke was the final wicket to fall in the 17th over, three runs away from victory.
In the end, SA got over the line comfortably winning by 5 wickets with 11 balls remaining.
