Women's Cricket World Cup: Hearts in Mouth as Proteas Defeat India With the Last Ball of the Match

• The Proteas ensured that they finished the group stages and went into the semifinals with winning momentum
• It went down to the wire as they defeated India with the very last ball of the over in a tense match at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch
• South Africa will now play England in the semifinal of the tournament, while the West Indies have the monumental task of defeating Australia in the other

The South African women's national cricket team continued their trend of testing their supporters' hearts' strength during the Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.

The Proteas defeated India with the very last ball of the match at a tense Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Chasing an imposing 275 for victory - the second-highest target in the history of women's cricket world cups - the Proteas did so in dramatic fashion.

Laura Wolvaardt was as brilliantly reliable as ever with an excellent 80 runs, though she missed out another century. She is far and away the leading run-scorer with 433 runs, having scored a half-century in all but two matches in the tournament.

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Lara Goodall (49), Marizanne Kapp (32) and Sune Luus (22) all also contributed in the tense run chase. However, Mignon du Preez was clutch with her 52 not out to help the Proteas across the finish line.

Earlier, India batted like their tournament lives depended on it with big total of 274/7. They actually had to, as defeat would see them eliminated from the competition, while victory would see them leapfrog the West Indies into the semifinals.

Smriti Mandhana top-scored with 71 runs. She was supported Mithali Raj (68), Shafali Verma (53) and Harmanpreet Kaur (48) all contributed to a total that could have been much higher but for excellent death-bowling by the Proteas.

The irrepressible Tabnim Ismail took two wickets for 42 runs in her spell of 10 overs. Masabata Klaas was as impressive, returning with figures of two wickets for 38 runs in eight overs.

The Proteas must now reset and turn their focus on to England in the semifinals. This is a repeat of the 2017 edition's match which the English won by the barest of margins.

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Women's Cricket World Cup: Proteas qualify for semifinals after match against West Indies is abandoned

Rain had the final say in the crucial 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup encounter between South Africa and the West Indies.

As reported by Sports Brief, the Proteas needed at least one point from their remaining two matches in the group to qualify for the semifinals, and the weather gods duly obliged with a washout.

The South Africans' match against India will be academic, though the latter still have a lot to play for, with two other spots in the last four still available.