Australia has been thumped by eight wickets to suffer the most stunning of exits from the Women’s T20 World Cup in Dubai.

A superb 74 not out from Anneke Bosch fired South Africa into the final as they demolished the defending champions.

Set 135 to win, South Africa reached their target with 16 balls to spare, with Bosch, who struck eight fours and a six in her 48-ball innings, sharing a match-winning partnership of 96 with skipper Laura Wolvaardt (42).

In Sunday’s final, which will be the first not to feature one of Australia or England, the South Africans will face either West Indies or New Zealand who meet in the second semi-final on Friday.

“This is one of the best wins of my cricketing career for sure. A couple of other girls have said it as well,” Wolvaardt said. “That was such an amazing 파워볼 chase. The bowlers are excellent. It’s been a good year for us.”

Australia, who have won six of the previous eight editions, had been the odds-on favourites to win a seventh title in the United Arab Emirates.

However, they had no answer to the South Africans for whom this marked a measure of revenge for defeat by Australia in last year’s final in Cape Town.

Put into bat, Australia, again without their injured captain Alyssa Healy, struggled from the start with the normally fluent Beth Mooney top-scoring with a grafting 44 that included just two fours.

“It’s going to be pretty hard to take,” Australia’s stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath said. “We just didn’t really show up tonight. You can’t afford to do that in tournaments like this.”