Sydney: Australia dodged the Sydney rain to beat South Africa by five runs on Thursday and set up a Women's Twenty20 World Cup final against India who earlier progressed to the final for the first time without a ball being bowled.
Wet weather washed out the first of the back-to-back semi-finals at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), leaving frustrated England to head home because they had finished second in Group 'B' while India had topped Group 'A'.
With no reserve day scheduled under tournament rules signed off by the boards of all competing nations, hosts and reigning champions Australia, who finished second in Group 'A', looked set to suffer the same fate as the rain continued to pelt down.
An evening lull in the downpour and the SCG's extraordinarily efficient drainage allowed a window for to complete their innings, however, and captain Meg Lanning led the way with a battling unbeaten 49 as they mustered a total of 134/5.
The rain started to fall again during the final over and an extended break between innings left South Africa chasing a revised victory target of 98 runs from 13 overs under the Duckworth Lewis method.
Group 'B' winners South Africa would have progressed had they been unable to complete 10 overs, but the rain mostly stayed away and Australia's bowlers restricted them to 92/5 despite a blistering 41 from Laura Wolvaardt.
"It was very stressful, the waiting game during the day and at the ground," said Lanning.
"The groundstaff did an amazing job and we were lucky enough to come out the winners."
After flirting with a PR disaster, the organisers now have the two teams in the final that will give them best chance of realising their target of a crowd of more than 90,000 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
