England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt led from the front on her return from injury with a superb 75 in a 40-run Women's T20 World Cup semi-final thrashing of South Africa at the Oval on Thursday.
England, sent in to bat, slumped 23-3 inside four overs in front to spark fears of yet another knockout loss in a showpiece event.
But Sciver-Brunt, back after missing the last three group games with a calf injury, counter-attacked to the delight of a crowd of over 21,000.
She received excellent support from former skipper Heather Knight (58) as the two survivors from the last England side to win a major international trophy -- the 2017 50-over World Cup -- turned the tide with a fourth-wicket partnership of 133 that took their team to a total of 169-5.
Tournament hosts England will play arch-rivals Australia in Sunday's final at Lord's. Both sides have won all six of their matches.
A chase of 170 was always going to be a tough task for South Africa and they finished well short on 129-8.
"I was probably nervous, the occasion gets quite big as well and so that increased the nerves," said Sciver-Brunt, the player of the match, at the presentation ceremony. "I missed a few games (with my injury). There was a lot of emotion pre-game."
She added: "Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail are world-class opening bowlers who can do some damage. So Heather and I wanted to nullify the threat and make sure we were in and able to capitalise on other bowlers. We used our experience, got out heads together and got the job done.
"We showed composure. We could have tried to go harder earlier and it might not have worked out, so we were really smart."
Kapp took 1-16 in her maximum four overs and Ismail 2-31.
But Ayabonga Khaka's and Nadine de Klerk's combined seven wicketless overs cost 79 runs.
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt said her side had been "outplayed", adding: "We were happy with 170, which we thought was par. They bowled well, had good plans and we weren't able to step up."
Earlier, South Africa enjoyed a brilliant start by taking three England wickets inside the first four overs.
Fast bowler Ismail struck with her first ball, Amy Jones cutting straight to point.
England opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge, whose previous five innings had yielded a tournament record 282 runs at a stellar average of 94, was bowled for just 12 by Kapp's well-disguised slower ball.
England were three down when Alice Capsey was lbw to Ismail.
But Sciver-Brunt and Knight, England's 2017 World Cup-winning skipper, revived the innings.
The 33-year-old Sciver Brunt, on her Surrey home ground, completed a fine fifty when she whipped De Klerk through midwicket for a ninth four in 35 balls faced.
Knight, 35, slog-swept Khaka for a huge six to go to a 42-ball fifty and Sciver-Brunt also cleared the ropes when hoisting de Klerk over midwicket.
Both Sciver-Brunt and Knight fell in the penultimate over to left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba (2-25) but by then the damage had been done.
South Africa suffered a major setback in their chase when skipper Wolvaardt was well caught for 17 by a leaping Sophie Ecclestone at mid-on off spinner Linsey Smith.
The Proteas' 43-1 was quickly transformed into 49-2 when Annerie Dercksen sliced a slower ball from Freya Kemp to point.
England then captured the key wicket of Kapp for just five when the all-rounder, trying to turn off-spinner Charlie Dean legside, got a leading edge and gave a gentle catch to an elated Sciver-Brunt at extra-cover.
South Africa opener Tazmin Brits made fifty at better than a run-a-ball before she fell to Dean.
The Proteas, who defeated England in both the semi-finals of the 2023 edition and in last year's 50-over World Cup, were now all but beaten at 95-5.
Six-time champions Australia eased into the final with an eight-wicket rout of the West Indies in Tuesday's first semi-final at the Oval.
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