Australia Women vs South Africa Women, 26th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Just the two games to go in the group stages of this World Cup and tomorrow is a double-header. The semis are confirmed and Australia have sealed top spot, will face India in Navi Mumbai while South Africa take on England in Guwahati. On that note we sign off for tonight. Do join us tomorrow for more action. Till then it's bye bye from all of us here.

Tahlia McGrath | Australia stand-in captain: (King) She was very good. Nah, that was pretty awesome. It just felt like, get the ball in her hands and something was going to happen - and that certainly did today. She just relentlessly attacked the stumps, and we felt like every ball was going to be a wicket. Super happy for her. I’ve heard she broke a lot of records - really special performance. Yeah, we stuck with them. Tweaked our plans a little bit - we knew we could just be a bit tighter, create some dot balls. We were getting dots, but leaking a few boundaries. So we adjusted slightly, stayed nice and calm, and they both pulled it back really well and took crucial wickets. (on bringing King) Yeah, she’s a bit of an X-factor for us this World Cup. As soon as the powerplay was done, I had a quick chat with Ash, and we both agreed to bring her on. She took over and did the rest. The plan was to bat with really good intent. It still looked like a slightly tricky wicket, but if you played with intent, you got rewarded. That was the mindset. We lost a few early wickets, but the way “Volly” and “Moons” batted was really good. I’m always a bit nervous on the sidelines - I’m not a great watcher! (Laughs) But it was awesome to get the job done and walk away with some momentum heading into the semi-finals. (on facing India in the semis) Yeah, absolutely. We’ve played a lot at that ground, and we’ve played a lot against India - especially recently. But knockout games are crucial - anything can happen. Job one’s done, qualifying. Job two, the knockouts - we’re really excited for it.

Laura Wolvaardt | South Africa captain: Yeah, definitely not the way we would have liked to end the group stages. We didn’t have enough runs with the bat. But I think we’ve done a lot of good things throughout this tournament, so we’ll just focus on that heading into the semi-final. Yeah, I didn’t think it was the worst thing in the world (having to bat first). We know it’s something we would have liked to practice again - obviously, the last time we did it didn’t go so well. But yeah, I thought it was a decent wicket to bat on. I thought King bowled excellently; we’d spoken about facing her quite a lot, but that didn’t quite go to plan. She bowled really well. Yeah, it’s nice. I feel like I’m timing it well. So, yeah, I’ll try to forget about today a little bit and just focus on all the good we’ve been doing. Yeah, it’s very nice. It’s been a real team effort this tournament. It’s been great to see different players putting their hands up, and the bowlers too. Unfortunately, no one was able to do that tonight, really, but hopefully in the semi-final one or two players can step up again. (discussions after the England game in the camp?) Yeah, after that game it was about putting it behind us as quickly as we could, while still learning from what we did wrong - things like getting beaten on the inside edge and so on. But at the same time, it was important to forget about it and move forward. I think it’ll be a similar thing tomorrow: analyse what we could’ve done better tonight, then move straight ahead to that semi-final. Maybe tonight’s loss is just what we need to wake ourselves up a bit. (any preferred opponent in the semis?) Not really - you can’t control that sort of thing. We’re happy to play England. We’re kind of used to meeting them in semi-finals at World Cups, so hopefully this time we can come out on top.

Best bowling SR in Women's ODIs (50+ wkts)
25.6 - Alana King (AUS-W) in 46 games
27.2 - Annabel Sutherland (AUS-W) in 48 games
28.5 - Charmaine Masons (AUS-W) in 46 games
28.6 - Charlie Dean (ENG-W) in 51 games

Most wickets in Women's ODI World Cups
43 - Jhulan Goswami (IND-W, 34 inng)
39* - Marizanne Kapp (SA-W, 27 inng)
39* - Megan Schutt (AUS-W, 28 inng)
39 - Lyn Fullston (AUS-W, 20 inng)
37 - Carole Hodges (ENG-W, 24 inng)

Most consecutive victories in Women's WCs
15* - Australia (2022-2025)
15 - Australia (1997-2000)
12 - Australia (1978-1982)
11 - New Zealand (1988-1993)
10 - England (1993-1997)

Most one-sided duels in Women’s ODIs
NZW vs IREW - 18 wins, 0 losses
ENGW vs SLW - 18 wins, 1 loss
SAW vs IREW - 18 wins, 1 loss
AUSW vs PAKW - 17 wins, 0 losses
AUSW vs IREW - 17 wins, 0 losses
AUSW vs SAW- 17 wins, 1 loss*

Australia Women won all nine matches against South Africa in the World Cups.

South Africa’s five-match (the longest) winning streak in Women’s World Cups comes to an end today. They lost the first (69 all-out) and the last (97 all-out) group games of this World Cup.

Alana King | Player of the Match: (drinks on her or Perry?) We’ll have to fight that out between Pez (Perry) and I. I think so, a little bit. We were expecting it to slide on a little bit, and I actually thought it was going to with that bit of drizzle in the first innings. But I’m just happy to extract as much as I can out of the wicket. (when did it click for you in this tournament?) Oh, I think as a bowler, you don’t always have wickets next to your name, but I know I can play a different role - whether that’s holding down one end while the other bowlers take some wickets. That’s happened in the last couple of games, and I’m happy to play whatever role presents itself, as long as I’m doing my job for Australia and helping put us in a good position. I think it’s a bit of both - variation as well. I’m trying to give it a rip every ball and get as much turn as I can, no matter the pitch. Some will hit the leather and slide on, others will catch the seam or stitching and get some purchase. As long as it’s coming out of my hand alright - that’s all I can control. (any other variations up your sleeve?) I’m probably not going to reinvent the wheel in a week’s time - so I’ll stick to what’s been working for me, and we’ll go from there.

18:18 Local Time, 12:48 GMT, 18:18 IST: A statement win from Australia. Much like the England game, South Africa lost it with the bat. Making just 97 against the likes of Australia gives you no hope. Alana King with astonishing figures of 7/18 as she ran riot. South Africa couldn't cope with the wiles and guiles of the leggie and the chase was just a formality. Litchfield and Perry fell cheaply but Mooney and Georgia Voll strung a quick stand before Sutherland came out and struck a couple of fours to put the icing on the cake. A very early finish here in Indore. By virtue of this win, Australia confirm their top spot and remain the only unbeaten side in the tournament. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff.