[LOOK] Close, but no cigar: Heroic SA fall to OZ in T20 final
|Published
Gave it their all: Sune Luus, left and her Proteas teammates
Australia were crowned World T20 champions on Sunday after beating South Africa by 19 runs in the final at Newlands.
The top women’s cricket side in the world successfully defended their trophy after scoring 156/6 in their 20 overs, before restricting their hosts to just 137/6 to bag a sixth T20 title.
Playing in the country’s first ever International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup, Proteas women’s captain Sune Luus and her team can hold their heads high after doing what their male counterparts could not achieve to date.
Ayyyyyy the money shot! 🍾#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/7YT9JcS7zq
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) February 26, 2023
However, they will be gutted today after restricting their visitors to a gettable total, but then falling flat with bat in hand.
Running out of words to describe how good at cricket Beth Mooney is. #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/tkKINVivN7
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) February 26, 2023
Australia won the toss and decided to bat first, with Beth Mooney being on the money with her unbeaten knock of 74 off 53 balls.
Proteas fast bowler Shabnim Ismail returned the best bowling figures for the hosts, taking 2/26 in her four overs, while Marizanne Kapp ended with figures of 2/35.
South Africa’s women’s team has never beaten its Australian counterpart in a T20I and the pressure of doing so in a World Cup final on home soil seemed to have taken its toll on their batters.
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) February 26, 2023
Laura Wolvaardt does the 3-peat as her seventh T20I half-century is also her third in a row#T20WorldCup #AUSvSA #MyHero #AlwaysRising pic.twitter.com/eNgKGJi8eH
Openers Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits simply couldn’t get going at the start and scored only 17 runs in the first five overs before the latter (on 10 runs off 17 balls) was caught after mistiming a Darcie Brown delivery.
Marizanne Kapp (11 off 11) was next to go and when Luus was run out with her score on 2 and South Africa’s on 54 in the 11th over, it was always going to be a mountain to climb.
Wolvaardt (61 off 48) and Chloe Tryon (25 off 23) then gave South Africa some hope with a blitsige 55-run fourth-wicket partnership, but when the former was trapped leg before with the score on 109 in the 17th over, it was tickets for SA.
After that they crumbled and ultimately finished on 137/6 off their 20 overs.