ESPNcricinfo Awards 2024 women's T20I batting winner: Girl Bosch

Australia don't just get beaten in big tournaments, so they were left awestruck by this Anneke Bosch effort that dumped them out of the T20 World Cup and opened the door for a new tournament winner. South Africa had done a big part of their job by restricting Australia to 134 for 5 thanks to some disciplined bowling. But they are a nation that gets nervy while chasing, so when Tazmin Brits was dismissed in the fifth over, a familiar feeling of dread would have threaded through the team.

Bosch, whose place in the side had come under scrutiny in the group stage, chose the biggest occasion to show her worth with a stunning takedown of Australia's spinners. She went after Sophie Molineux in the powerplay and Georgia Wareham outside it with an exceptional display of footwork and the bravery to keep charging down the track.

By the midpoint of South Africa's innings, they needed 61 off 60 balls and Bosch was well set on 29. She brought up her 50 off 31 balls and shared in a 96-run second-wicket stand with captain Laura Wolvaardt to break the back of the target. Fittingly, it was Bosch who hit the winning runs, getting down on one knee to send Megan Schutt through deep midwicket and putting South Africa into their second successive World Cup final. Bosch's 74 not out was her career-best and got South Africa to the target with 16 balls to spare.

Both teams squeezed in plenty of dot balls in the first six overs, but South Africa pulled away in the final over of the powerolay when Bosch showed off a strong execution of the sweep shot and the use of her feet with back-to-back fours off Molineux. South Africa's 43 runs in the first six was the most Australia had conceded in the powerplay in the World Cup, but more importantly, South Africa's required run rate dipped under seven an over and kept decreasing from there.

Before this match, Bosch had been underwhelming in the tournament, with scores of 18, 11 and 25 at a strike rate of 84.3.

This win was only their second in T20Is against the six-time world champions.

"A lot of what happened today, we can give credit to him. He kept believing in us, or in me, even after a couple of bad games. He had my back and he believed in me. He told me a good innings is coming."
- Anneke Bosch credited South Africa's batting coach Baakier Abrahams for her approach in the semi-final

"Anneke played her role perfectly. I think she just needs to give us that sort of kick in the innings from over six to 12. And that's exactly what she did today."
- South Africa's captain Laura Wolvaardt was all praise for Bosch's effort

Harshita Samarawickrama
69 not out, Asia Cup final, Dambulla
A year of incredible chases continued for Sri Lanka as they hunted down their highest successful T20I target to claim their first major trophy, thanks to someone other than their headlining captain Chamari Athapaththu. Samarawickrama, an experienced left-handed batter, was called on as early as the second over, with Sri Lanka 7 for 1 chasing 166. She had scored only five half-centuries in 62 matches before this game, with a career strike rate below 100. That increased almost immediately with 29 from the first 27 balls. The next 40 came off 24 balls. Sri Lanka won comfortably with eight balls and eight wickets to spare and went into the T20 World Cup with 14 wins from 17 matches in the first part of the year.