After South Africa became the second team to qualify for the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup semis on Thursday, captain Sune Luus expressed happiness and said everyone's extremely excited to be in the semi-final.
Rain washed out Thursday's game against the West Indies in Wellington after the Proteas - put in to bat in a match reduced to just 26 overs - had reached 61 for four off 10.5 overs.
And that result officially fired Luus' team into the semi-finals, hauling them up to nine points and second in the standings and leaving West Indies' hopes of progression hanging in the balance.
"Everybody's extremely excited and happy to be in the semis. With the rain today wasn't ideal sitting around and waiting. Not the best of starts but we still have to take the positives out of today. The way Mignon batted, she has been shy of runs in the competition and she needed that for her confidence," said Sune Luus in a post-match presentation.
"There's still a lot of batters who would be happy to get runs, Lizelle Lee at the top and our No.3 spot as well. With our bowling to keep hitting our strides and we pride ourselves on our fielding, so we would like to improve on that," she said.
Deandra Dottin helped to dismiss in-form opener Laura Wolvaardt on three and veteran batter Lizelle Lee on nine followed her shortly after as the Proteas were quickly reduced to 14/2.
Skipper Sune Luus and Tazmin Brits quickly followed as South Africa stumbled to 22/4. The duo of Mignon du Preez 38* and Marizanne Kapp 5* steadied South Africa's innings, only for the rain to intervene once again and ruin any chance of a result.
"We are pretty pumped to be getting into that final, it has been a dream for us for so long, but we still need to get through the semi-finals, needing to play England or India it will be a tough game regardless and we need to get through that. We will take it game by game, we would keep with our momentum and a win on Sunday will help with that," said Luus.
The sodden Wellington forecast threw Thursday's game into doubt but after eventually taking to the field in a game cut to 26 overs, the West Indies got off to a flyer.
Chinelle Henry (three for 19) and Shamilia Connell's (one for 18) blistering new ball spells reduced South Africa to 22 for four before Du Preez led the recovery with a battling 38 not out.
Marizanne Kapp (five not out) briefly joined her at the other end but with the Wellington rain persisting, the match was abandoned in a result that officially secured South Africa's semi-final spot.
West Indies now sit third but know their semi-final fate is out of their hands, fretting on the fortunes of India and England who can leapfrog them into the top four if they win their final matches against South Africa and Bangladesh respectively.
( With inputs from ANI )
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