Alana King bowling (File pic by Bahnfrend)
Alana King produced the best bowling figures in ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup history to clinch top spot in the league stage for Australia.
The leg-spinner dismantled the South African innings on her way to seven for 18, helping dismiss the Proteas for just 97.
Despite losing a couple of early wickets, Australia chased that down in just 16.5 overs, wrapping up a seven-wicket victory.
With the win, Australia continued their perfect run so far in this tournament, winning every game bar a washout against Sri Lanka.
They will now play India in the semi-finals in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, with South Africa having to regroup for their clash with England the day before in Guwahati.
Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first, with Laura Wolvaardt plundering four boundaries off Megan Schutt’s second over to give South Africa a good platform.
Schutt got her revenge when she had the Proteas skipper caught at short midwicket for 31, with just 32 on the board.
Kim Garth then followed that up by getting the other opener, Tazmin Brits, for six as she trapped her leg before in the 10th over.
At 43 for two, the game was evenly poised, but the introduction of King swung it definitively the way of Australia.
She needed just two balls to remove Sune Luus, skying a slog sweep off the spinner’s second delivery.
A dream first over got even better when Marizanne Kapp picked out Garth behind square for a duck, completing a double wicket maiden.
Sinalo Jafta tried to mount a comeback, including three boundaries off one Annabel Sutherland over, but at the other end, King was proving unplayable.
She picked up two more in as many deliveries, bowling Annerie Dercksen (5) and then having Chloe Tryon caught first ball to take her figures to four for none from 2.3 overs.
Nadine de Klerk finally got some runs off the leg-spinner, steering the hat-trick ball through backward point for a boundary.
South Africa have made a habit of digging themselves out of trouble in this tournament, but Jafta’s counter-attack was stopped when she was bowled by King for 29 after back-to-back fours, leaving the Proteas on 81 for seven.
She followed that up by bowling Masabata Klaas for four before Ashleigh Gardner got in on the act, removing Ayabonga Khaka for a duck.
Fittingly, it was King who took the final wicket, De Klerk bowled for 14 as she finished with figures of seven for 18, the best in ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup history.
In reply, Australia were dealt an early blow when Phoebe Litchfield fell for five to Kapp, who started the chase with three successive maidens.
At the other end, Ellyse Perry fell to Klaas for a duck, leaving Australia on 11 for two.
Voll (38 not out) survived an LBW shout a couple of balls later but responded with a couple of boundaries off Kapp.
Beth Mooney started finding the boundary at the other end as the duo upped the ante and quickly raced past the 50 partnership.
They took Australia to the brink, adding 76 in just over 10 overs before Mooney picked out Wolvaardt off the bowling of De Klerk for a 41-ball 42.
That brought Sutherland to the crease and she quickly knocked off the remaining runs, hitting 10 off just four balls to seal the win.
King was hailed as Australia’s X-factor after the record-breaking spell.
And Tahlia McGrath, taking on the captaincy in the absence of Alyssa Healy, was fulsome in her praise of King.
She said: “That was good fun. How good was (Alana King)?! That was pretty awesome.
“Get the ball in her hands, something was going to happen. It felt like every ball was going to be a wicket. I’m super happy for her. She broke a lot of records, and it was a really special performance.
“She is a bit of an X-Factor at this World Cup.”
King said: “I expected it to slide on a little bit with a bit of the drizzle. I was just happy to extract as much as I can out of the wicket.
“As a bowler, you always love wickets. I can play a different role. If that is holding down one end, and then the other bowlers coming on to take wickets.
“I was trying to give it a rip every ball. Some are going to hit the leather and slide on, some will hit the stitching and seam, they might spin.
“As long as they are coming out of my hand (well), that is only thing I can control. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel, just keep on doing (what I am doing) and take it from there.”
McGrath added: “We have played a lot at that ground and against India. It’s a knockout game, you have to be on. Qualifying, job one done, now to job two – the knockouts.”
South Africa will look to bounce back from their second defeat of the tournament when they take on England in the first semi-final in Guwahati.
The Proteas have faced England in each of the last two ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup semi-finals, losing on each occasion, while they also fell to a heavy defeat to the English in their opening game of the tournament.
Skipper Laura Wolvaardt is hopeful that this result will be the wake-up call the team needs ahead of the knockouts.
She said: “It’s not the way we would have wanted to end the group stage. We did not have runs. We’ve done a lot of good in the tournament, we will focus on that going into the semis.
“That game (against England), we wanted to put it behind us as quickly as possible, we’re trying to learn as much as possible.
“Maybe it’s good for us to wake up a little bit. We’re used to a semi-final against them in 50-over World Cups, hopefully we can come out on top this time.”
RESULT
South Africa 97 all out from 24 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 31, Sinalo Jafta 29; Alana King 7/18, Ashleigh Gardner 1/19)
Australia 98 for three from 16.5 overs (Beth Mooney 42, Georgia Voll 38 not out; Marizanne Kapp 1/11, Nadine de Klerk 1/13)
Result: Australia won by seven wickets
