Scotland eliminated by South Africa at T20 World Cup

Women's T20 World Cup, Group B, Dubai

South Africa 166-5 (20 overs): Brits 43 (35), Kapp 43 (24), Wolvaardt 40 (27)

Scotland 86 (17.5 overs): Mlaba 3-12, De Klerk 2-15

South Africa won by 80 runs.

Scorecard. Table

Scotland’s faint hopes of progressing to the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup were extinguished after a crushing a 80-run defeat by South Africa in Dubai.

Laura Wolvaardt, Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp all made scores in the forties to help South Africa post 166-5 – the highest score in the tournament so far.

Five Scotland bowlers picked up one wicket apiece, with captain Kathryn Bryce arguably the most impressive as she showed resilience and control at the death to claim 1-31.

Scotland, an Associate member playing in their first World Cup, struggled against South Africa's spinners as they were bowled out for 86 in response.

Katherine Fraser top scored for Scotland with 14, and was one of only two players into double figures with the bat, as Nonkululeko Mlaba took 3-12.

South Africa moved top of Group A on four points – level with second-place England but ahead of them on net run-rate having played a game more – while winless Scotland remain bottom.

The margin of victory also ensured the Proteas have a superior net run-rate to third-placed West Indies, with two teams from each group qualifying for the semi-finals.

Scotland face England in their final pool match in Sharjah on Sunday, while South Africa face Bangladesh in Dubai on Saturday.

Kapp and Brits might have joint top-scored against the Scots, but the consistent churn of runs by Wolvaardt took her past a significant milestone.

In her last six T20 World Cup innings Wolvaardt has made a score of 40 or more and is the leading runscorer in the tournament with 141 at 70.50. Her strike rate of 116.52 is not too shabby, either.

The South Africa captain was given an early let-off by Scotland when she was on two, though.

Wolvaardt chipped a full toss off the seventh ball of the match from Kathryn Bryce to Katherine Fraser at mid-off, who shelled a routine catch.

She went on to hit 40 off 27 balls, including a six off Scotland spinner Olivia Bell having skipped down the pitch and elegantly timing a lofted drive over long-on.

The knock moved her on to 1,906 runs in T20 internationals as she climbed above Lizelle Lee (1,896) and Dane van Niekerk (1,877) to become South Africa’s all-time leading runscorer in the format.

For Scotland, this tournament is a learning curve and after commendable displays in defeats to Bangladesh and West Indies this was a bit of a shellacking.

Doubtless the psychological boost from dismissing Wolvaardt for single figures would have lifted them in the field, even if South Africa's bowlers would likely have still had too much.