Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025: South Africa embarrass England

England’s hopes of winning the 2025 Women’s World Cup are over after they suffered a humiliating 125-run semi-final defeat against South Africa on Wednesday.

They were odds-on favourites to win the game with Betway, but came nowhere near overhauling South Africa’s commanding 319-7 total from their 50 overs.

Laura Wolvaardt smashed 169 runs from 143 deliveries, the highest-ever score from a South African at a Women’s World Cup.

Marizanne Kapp weighed in with a quickfire 42, before removing Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones in a double-wicket maiden with the ball.

England were reduced to 1-3 after just seven balls of their run chase, and never looked likely to get back into a game they were expected to win.

They started their World Cup campaign with a comfortable ten-wicket win against South Africa, which set them up nicely for the rest of the group stage.

However, a disappointing six-wicket defeat against Australia in their sixth outing was a sign that England were not all they were cracked up to be.

They had no answer to Wolvaardt, who swatted their toothless bowling attack to all corners of the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.

“It stills feels a bit unreal,” Wolvaardt said. “This is something you dream about as a kid, getting a century in a World Cup. It’s a very special day and I’m so glad we won in the end.

“We knew the start would be crucial. Tazmin Brits and I have been strong at the top of the order and that feeds into the rest of the order. We knew it was a decent wicket and it was great we got to a big score on a flat pitch.

“I went with the momentum. I know I have the shots in me but I wanted to get to the fortieth over to make way for the other girls to whack it.

“I was happy to get a few leg-side boundaries – I could have gone for that earlier! This has to be at the top of my career. To win this against such a strong bowling side – this is right up there.”

The devastating defeat added to England’s woes in a tournament that has not been overly kind to them since it was first staged in 1973.

While they have lifted the trophy on four previous occasions (1973, 1993, 2009 & 2017), their overall record is littered with disappointments.

The appointment of Charlotte Edwards as head coach was touted as a move that would transform the team’s fortunes, but her players failed to deliver on the big stage.

Edwards spoke about improving them ‘as individuals and as a team’ when she was appointed, but there was little evidence of progress against South Africa.

She bizarrely claimed in her post-match interview that England had ‘performed well under pressure’ despite the scoreline painting a completely different picture.

However, Edwards insisted that England had taken some steps forward during the tournament and is looking forward to bringing some new faces into the fold.

“We are making progress, but you are defined on your results,” Edwards said. “We all hoped we could make that final. I don’t like losing but I knew what I took on and it would not be a quick fix.

“I am hungry now to work with these players over the winter and hopefully we can do that. We need to focus on the T20 World Cup from December to March and players will be training for that. Hopefully these players can learn to deal with these situations better.

“We have a performance programme and are targeting players who we want to target for that. It is exciting now – we have a new group of players and talent coming through.”

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