England storm into 5th Women's T20 World Cup final with dominant win over South Africa

South Africa failed to reach their fourth successive World Cup final, after suffering a crushing 40-run defeat against England in the second semi-final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 on Thursday, July 2 at Kennington Oval, London.

After being put in to bat first, England posted a good score of 169/5 in their allotted 20 overs, with captain Nat Sciver-Brunt leading from the front with a brilliant innings on her comeback from injury, while Heather Knight (58 off 47) also scored a valuable half-century to rescue the team after the early collapse. 

For South Africa, Nonkululeko Mlaba and Shabnim Ismail (2/31) scalped two wickets each, while Marizanne Kapp (1/16) was at her usual best with the new ball.

In reply, South Africa were restricted to 129/8 with only Tazmin Brits (51 off 45) showing some resistance against a relentless England bowling attack as Lauren Bell (2/28) and Charlotte Dean (2/31) scalped two wickets each. Courtesy of their clinical performance, England qualified for their fifth Women's T20 World Cup final.

They will take on Australia in the summit clash on Sunday, July 5 at Lord's. It will be the fourth time that the two teams will be locking horns in a Women's T20 World Cup final. England will go into the summit clash high on confidence, having never lost a World Cup final at home.

Top run-scorer of the Match

Top wicket-taker of the Match

Player of the Match

England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt was adjudged Player of the Match for her terrific innings. She scored a sensational 75* (47) studded with 11 fours and a six to rescue her team from a precarious position of 23/3 after 3.2 overs. She also registered the highest score by an England captain in the knockout stages of the Women's T20 World Cup.

Turning Point

Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight added a massive 133-run stand for the fourth wicket off 90 balls, which pushed England's score past 160 after the early collapse. From there on, South Africa could never make a comeback in the match.

In the second innings, South Africa got off to a decent start to the run chase with captain Laura Wolvaardt (17 off 15) and Tazmin Brits adding 43 runs for the first wicket off 34 balls. However, Linsey Smith got rid of Wolvaardt in the sixth over, courtesy of a brilliant catch from Sophie Ecclestone at mid-on. From there on, South African batters felt stuck in the middle and couldn’t get on with the run chase, eventually capitulating under pressure of the rising required rate.

What did the captains say:

Winning Captain, Nat Sciver-Brunt (England women):

What a special place to play cricket. Have really loved playing here over the years. What a great ground to show the crowd how much we love playing for England. We've got full confidence in our batting lineup from top to botttom. From that point of view there was no worry about people coming in. Composure we showed was really important. Could've gone harder, earlier. But it might not have worked out. I think we had a good score. You could tell there was some variable bounce and keeping the stumps in play was so important. Kemp, especially, did so well with her off-pace deliveries. Linsey's done a brilliant job for us in the powerplay and for us tactically, to have four overs of Sophie in the middle has been a huge benefit. It's just infectious playing with this team and the home crowd has been so special. Calf's good. Massive. What an occasion it'll be. What an opposition to be facing. Obviously a really talented side and they've had huge success. We'll see what happens at Lord's.

Losing Captain, Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa women):

Very disappointed. Just not meant to be for us today. Outplayed by a really good England side. The main difference betweeen our innings and theirs is that they had so many more partnerships. Frustrating to lose this one on the big stage, will go back to the drawing road. It was a pretty decent pitch, coming on quite nicely. Thought 170 was par. Outfield was lightning. THought it would be tough to defend but they bowled well. Cool to see so many fans here tonight. Adds to the vibe and energy. Decent campaign for us. On reflection, our batting never really fired. On the whole we weren't quite clicking. Our bowling and fielding was good throughout. We have got an exciting mix at the moment. A lot of senior players and some exciting youngsters coming through as well.