Anneke Bosch hit 74 runs unbeaten to fire South Africa into the Women’s T20 World Cup final following their eight wicket victory over defending champions Australia in Dubai.

Bosch, who hit eight fours and a six in her 48-ball innings, shared a match-winning partnership of 96 with captain Laura Wolvaardt (42) as South Africa accomplished their goal with 16 balls remaining after being set 135 to win.

The South Africans will play either the West Indies or New Zealand, who meet in the second semi-final on Friday, in the final on Sunday, which will be the first to not include an Australian or English player.

Australia was the clear favourite to win a seventh title in the United Arab Emirates, having won six of the previous eight tournaments.

They were unable to respond to South Africa, though, who saw this as a form of retaliation for Australia’s loss in the Cape Town final the previous year.

The normally fluid Beth Mooney top-scored with a laborious 44 that included just two fours as Australia, once again without their injured skipper Alyssa Healy, struggled from the outset.

Tahlia McGrath, Healy’s replacement, scored 27 and Ellyse Perry, 31, but it wasn’t until Phoebe Litchfield entered the game and quickly scored 15 off of nine balls that the run rate began to increase.

Before being bowled by Annabel Sutherland for 15, Tazmin Brits smashed a six and a four to give the South Africans a strong start.

Bosch was then called in. Prior to Thursday, Bosch had a dismal tournament with a maximum score of 25 versus Bangladesh.

She soon found her groove and effectively used the slog sweep to throw all Australian bowlers except Sutherland off balance.

With 190 runs, Wolvaardt is now the tournament’s leading scorer. However, he was unable to complete the task as Bosch crushed Megan Schutt through midwicket to seal South Africa’s thrilling victory.

She achieved her highest total in the format and the highest score in this competition after duly recording her third fifty in T20I cricket.