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Women's T20 World Cup: South Africa beat England by six runs in semi-final

Sarah Glenn is consoled by England's Charlie Dean after England lose their semi-finalImage source, Getty Images

England's women have been knocked out of the T20 World Cup after losing their semi-final match to South Africa.

They lost by six runs in a close match to the tournament's hosts in Cape Town.

England had gone into the game as favourites, having won all four of their group matches.

The result mean that South Africa advance to their first T20 World Cup final and will face Australia in Sunday's match.

What happened?

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South Africa batted first after winning the toss and posted an impressive 164-4 after Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt both scored fifties in front of a home crowd.

Chasing 165 to win, England were cruising at 132-3 before Nat Sciver-Brunt's dismissal for 40 sparked a batting collapse of five wickets for 26 runs in 22 balls.

With 13 runs needed from the final over, South Africa bowler Shabnim Ismail held her nerve to bowl England captain Heather Knight for 31 and seal a thrilling six run victory for South Africa.

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After the match, England captain Heather Knight said: "I'm obviously gutted but first of all what a brilliant game of cricket. We did well to take it close.

"There is a huge amount of talent. We tried to entertain and we certainly did that. We will come back stronger," she added.

The hosts are the first South Africa side, either men's or women's, to reach a cricket World Cup final in any format.

They will now face defending champions Australia who are looking to secure their third title in a row in Sunday's final in Cape Town.

What is the T20 World Cup?

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T20 stands for how many overs - 20 - each team plays per game.

An over is a round of six balls bowled at the wicket.

Both teams get one innings each, which means they both get a go at batting and bowling.

The T20 has only been around for eight tournaments so far, compared to the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, which started in 1973.

T20 cricket was designed to create a fast-paced game, with matches a lot shorter than the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, which has the standard 50 overs.