WWC 2017, Semi-final 1: England v South Africa – Statistical Highlights

South Africa Women went down against the home side England by 2 wickets in the semi-finals of Women’s World Cup 2017 but they didn’t give up without fighting as they almost defended a mere 219-run target against the best batting side of the tournament. The half centuries from Laura Wolvaardt and Mignon du Preez helped South Africa finish at 218/7 despite losing wickets at regular intervals.

England were cruising in the chase at 139/2 before Sarah Taylor was run out in the 33rd over attempting a quick run after scoring a solid 54. South Africa kept on taking wickets after that as the game went down to the last over and the equation was 2 runs to win from 3 balls. That was when Anya Shrubsole hit a boundary through the off-side to see her side into the final.

Here we look at all the stats and records created during the game.

2 – Number of balls in hand when England chased down the target in this game; the 2nd smallest winning margins in a Women’s ODI knock out game. India finished the chase on the last ball against South Africa in the 2017 Women’s World Cup Qualifier final.

3 – Number of fifty-plus scores Sarah Taylor has scored in this tournament; the most by a wicket-keeper in a single edition of WWC. Sarah has 5 fifty-plus scores as a keeper in WWC history, two more than the next best Anju Jain.

7 – Number of times England have made it to the finals of Women’s World Cup; only Australia (7) have made it to the finals of WWC more times.

12 – Number of Player of the Match awards for Sarah Taylor in Women’s ODIs; the 2nd most for any England player in this format. Charlotte Edwards received 17 Player of the Match awards in Women’s ODIs.

18y 83d – The age of Laura Wolvaardt coming into this game; she is the 2nd youngest player to score a fifty in Women’s ODI knockout. Charlotte Edwards scored a fifty vs Sri Lanka in 1997 World Cup at the age of 18y 4d.

76* – Mignon du Preez’s unbeaten 76 is the highest individual score by a South African in Women’s ODI knockout match. Laura Wolvaardt scored 66 in this game. The previous highest was 55 by Sune Luus in Tri-series final in May 2017.

219 – Target England chased down in this game; only the 2nd instance of a team chasing down 200+ in a Women’s ODI knockout match. India chased down 245 vs South Africa only in the 2017 Women’s World Cup Qualifier final.

439 – The match aggregate of 439 runs is the highest in a Women’s World Cup knockout match. The WWC 2013 final between Australia and West Indies had an aggregate of 404 runs.