South Africa reach maiden Women's ODI World Cup final after thrashing England

South Africa thrashed England by 125 runs to reach their first-ever ODI World Cup final. Captain Laura Wolvaardt scored 169 to help set a target of 320 for England, before Marizanne Kapp took five wickets to guide the Proteas to victory and become the leading wicket-taker in the competition's history.

After being bowled out for 69 in this exact fixture at the same venue in the group stage, Wolvaardt scored 20 fours and four maximums on her way to 169 off 143 balls, while Tazmin Brits (45) and Kapp (42) both contributed with solid scores for South Africa.

Chloe Tryon (33 not out) and Nadine de Klerk (11 not out) managed to find the boundary rope late in the innings before England suffered a batting collapse like never before.

Amy Jones, Tamy Beaumont and Heather Knight were all dismissed for zero, marking the first time England's top three have all gone for a duck in women's ODIs.

Kapp (5-20) took two of the three wickets, with Ayabonga Khaka taking the other, to put the Proteas in the driving seat, with England 1-3 after seven balls bowled.

Skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt (64) and Alice Capsey (50) put on a partnership of 107, but it only delayed the inevitable as Kapp and Sune Luus (1-41) removed both batters before De Klerk (2-24) went on to take the final two wickets.

Data Debrief: Wolvaardt and Kapp lead the way

After losing against England in each of their last two World Cup semi-final appearances, South Africa have progressed to their first final in the format of either the men's or women's competition.

And Wolvaardt set the tone from the very start, scoring the third-highest individual score in a Women's World Cup knockout game (Harmanpreet Kaur – 171, Alyssa Healy – 170); only Kaur (seven) has scored more sixes in such innings than the Proteas skipper (four).

She also became the first South African player to reach 5,000 women's ODI runs and has the joint-most half-centuries in the tournament's history.

Kapp, meanwhile, passed Jhulan Goswami as the all-time leading wicket-taker in the competition, with her fifth scalp taking her total to 44.