Tahlia feels Australia 'didn't show up' vs South Africa: Pretty hard to take

Australia's stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath felt that Australia 'didn't show up' in their semi-final clash against South Africa in the Women's T20 World Cup 2024. She admitted that the loss was going to be hard to take.

In Short

• South Africa beat Australia by 8 wickets in semi-final clash
• Australia's 15-match winning streak in Women's T20 World Cup ends
• The defending champions failed to reach the final after more than a decade

Australia's stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath felt that Australia 'didn't show up' in their semi-final clash against South Africa in the Women's T20 World Cup 2024. She admitted that the loss was going to be hard to take as the defending champions crashed out of the tournament with South Africa reaching the final for the 2nd straight time. South Africa beat Australia by 8 wickets to seal their final berth. Australia's 15-match winning streak in the Women's T20 World Cup also came to an end.

"It's going to be pretty hard to take. We just didn't really show up tonight. You can't afford to do that in tournaments like this. Full credit to South Africa, they outplayed us tonight. We have had this World Cup in our minds for a very long time now. We worked really hard over the off-season, fine-tuning some things. We really were prepped for coming here. Felt like we left no stone unturned. Just didn't show up on the night," Tahlia said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Australia's 15-match winning streak breaks

South Africa restricted Australia to 134 for 5 despite a late surge with Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield providing a strong finish. The Proteas women romped home by eight wickets with 16 balls to spare to make a massive statement. Tahlia praised South Africa's batting and how they approached the chase.

"We found it quite tricky, South Africa bowled quite well, took the pace off, and they made it tough for us to take risks. At the halfway stage, we felt 140-150 was par, but South Africa batted so well and made it look like it was a totally different wicket."

"We got punished"

Tahlia admitted that the bowlers couldn't execute the plans as South Africa raced away in the chase with captain Laura Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch sharing a match-winning stand between them. Their 96-run stand ensured South Africa registered their very first win against Australia in the Women's T20 World Cup.

"We were trying to keep it really simple on that wicket, and we couldn't execute and got punished, we kept saving a couple of overs and a couple of wickets, so that we could wrestle the momentum back. We could not do it. Schutt has been huge for us in this tournament. She leads from the front, takes poles for fun and the youngsters, Phoebs and Bells are coming through, so we have a really good future."