DUBAI: When South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt won the toss and opted to bowl first at the Dubai International Stadium, she had done half the job right. In fact, it was a sign of what was to come.
It all started when Australia lost Grace Harris early in the innings as Ayabonga Khaka struck with her first ball of the game. Georgia Wareham, batting at three, didn't last long either. With stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath putting together a partnership with Beth Mooney, there was scope for Australia to go gung ho on the pitch that has produced one of the highest scores of the tournament. However, it wasn't to be as both struggled to score quick runs.
South Africa's bowling changes, managed by Wolvaardt, were spot on, and their fielding was able to back them up. Australia faced as many as 30 dot balls in the first ten overs, with the scoreboard reading 53/2.
Even though McGrath and Mooney managed to put up a partnership of 50 runs it did not help their scoring rate at all. Khaka finally ended McGrath's misery as Annerie Dercksen took a simple catch. Australia's batting innings never really got going as they could only manage 134/5 in the first innings.
If South Africa's bowling was impressive, their batters took Australia by storm. Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits came out all guns blazing even after the latter got out, it did not matter. Bosch took charge from there and saw the chase through with an unbeaten 74.
Australia: 134/5 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 44, Tahlia McGrath 27; Ayabonga Khaka 2/24) lost to South Africa: 135/2 in 17.2 overs (Anneke Bosch not out 74, Laura Wolvaardt 42; Annabel Sutherland 2/26).