'Foot on throat': Proteas set sights on Australia

Shabnim Ismail torched England's T20 World Cup dreams with some of the quickest bowling in tournament history – and now Australia's batters are next in the firing line.

Ismail's 3-27 was instrumental in securing South Africa's berth in a home World Cup final in Cape Town, with a lightning quick over turning the tide after England's openers made a fast start towards a target of 165.

She removed Alice Capsey for a duck via a delivery clocked on broadcast at 126kph – Tazmin Brits securing the wicket with a strong contender for catch of the tournament – then had Natalie Sciver-Brunt on her toes with a 128kph rocket.

With the vocal home crowd at her back, Ismail returned at the death to defend 13 off the final over and cleaned up England skipper Heather Knight's stumps to seal the history-making six-run victory.

Ismail had no idea the speeds she had clocked during the game until she fronted the media after the game.

"No way, you guys are joking? Serious?" a grinning Ismail said. "No, I didn't know that, but thanks for telling me.

"I always speak about obviously bowling as quick as I can ... but you need to try and be consistent as well, that third over (when England scored 14 runs) put me off my game a bit, but I knew that I still had the skill to come out and execute in that last over.

"The crowd gave us an extra boost."

Ismail's spell, in tandem with Ayabonga Khaka, who took 4-29 including a three-wicket 18th over that swung the equation heavily in the Proteas favour, has now set up a date with the undefeated Australians.

Image Id: 77AE664CBB5A47DCB4270C6DA1182F22 Image Caption: Shabnim Ismail is overwhelmed with emotion post match // Getty

South Africa have never beaten Australia in a T20I, and the teams have only met in the format on six occasions, but the majority of the Proteas squad are very familiar with their opponents – seven of the 11 players who took the field in the semi-final featured in Weber WBBL|08.

That in itself is all the confidence-boost Ismail, who was player of the WBBL|06 final for Sydney Thunder, needs heading into the biggest match of her career.

"Australia's a known team for staying calm under pressure ... so I think once we actually get them under pressure and keep on pushing the boundaries to them, I think they are bound to make a mistake somewhere," she said.

"Hopefully when they do, we have to just put the foot on throat and just go for it.

"When we go to the BBL, to the Hundred, we play against world-class players, and we know exactly what we can expect against the Australian team which is a world-class team.

"They've got the batting line-up from one to basically maybe eight or nine and we speak about getting into the tail.

"I don't even think that Megan Schutt has ever even put on pads, so hopefully at Sunday's game she's going to put on pads so we can bowl to her.

"Going overseas is not only playing in the big competitions, but it's also a learning curve for the ones that go so we can bring back the knowledge and share it amongst the team … that's exactly what we've done today and we came out on top."

ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Alyssa Healy (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

Australia's T20 World Cup 2023 fixtures

Feb 11: beat New Zealand by 97 runs

Feb 14: beat Bangladesh by eight wickets

Feb 16: beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets

Feb 18: beat South Africa by six wickets

Semi-finals

Feb 23: Australia beat India by five runs

Feb 24: South Africa beat England by six runs

Final

Feb 26: Australia v South Africa, Newlands, Cape Town, 3pm local (12am Feb 27 AEDT)