Australia Reigns Supreme: Triumphs Over South Africa to Lead 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup

At the Holkar Stadium on Saturday, Alana King delivered a stunning performance that dominated the day.

Amid overcast conditions, the 29-year-old Australian leg-spinner dazzled South Africa with her impressive skill set, achieving career-best figures of 7-2-18-7. These remarkable statistics mark the best bowling performance by an Australian woman in ODIs and the first-ever seven-wicket haul in the 50-over format. At one point, King, who was born in Melbourne to parents who emigrated from Chennai, astonishingly had figures of 2.3-2-0-4 during her spell.

King’s exceptional bowling display led Australia to dismiss Laura Wolvaardt’s team for a mere 97 runs in 24 overs, securing a comfortable seven-wicket victory. This win placed the reigning champions at the top of the eight-team table, setting up a semifinal clash against India in Navi Mumbai on October 30. Meanwhile, South Africa will face England in the first semifinal in Guwahati on October 29.

In the early overs, Wolvaardt showed promising form, hitting four boundaries off Megan Schutt in the third over. However, with Tazmin Brits struggling at the other end, the pressure eventually mounted on Wolvaardt.

In the seventh over, Wolvaardt was dismissed after flicking a shot off Schutt, which was caught by King at midwicket. Brits followed her to the pavilion three overs later.

King then took center stage. She claimed two wickets in her first over: Sune Luus, who was caught by Annabel Sutherland at mid-on attempting a slog sweep, and Marizanne Kapp, who was tempted into a cut shot that went to backward point. In her third over, King took two wickets in consecutive balls, bowling out Annerie Dercksen and having Chloe Tryon caught at midwicket. At this point, King had four wickets without conceding a run.

Sinalo Jafta attempted a counterattack, scoring seven fours in a rapid 29 off 17 balls. However, she became one of four batters to have her stumps uprooted by King.

“I’m just happy to extract as much as I can out of the pitch. As a bowler, you always love wickets,” King expressed happily at the post-match presentation.

Published on Oct 25, 2025