A quality win by Australia over India allowed the South Africans to finish second in their group.
The Proteas women’s team will face England in the Women’s T20 World Cup semifinals in London on Thursday, following Sunday’s big double header at Lord’s.
After beating Bangladesh in their final group game in the first match of the day, the South African watched on as Australia edged India in the final match of the group phase, at the same ground.
The results meant South Africa finished second in the group with eight points, two behind the unbeaten Australians, but two ahead of India, who finished third with six points.
The other semifinal will be between Australia and the West Indies on Tuesday.
After India had posted 170/4 in their 20 overs, they had Australia on the back foot for the first part of their chase, but a quality partnership between Ash Gardner (53 not out off 29) and Elysse Perry (56 off 38) got them across the line, winning by six wickets.
South Africa earlier chased down 118 to beat Bangladesh, with six wickets down and four balls remaining. It was a tight low-scoring game, but one captain Laura Wolvaardt said just needed to be won by the Proteas.
“We needed a win, that’s all,” said Wolvaardt, who was dismissed first ball.
“It was a bit frustrating how we got ourselves into that position. We maybe batted too much within ourselves, and didn’t go to the positive options early enough.
“But we got there in the end.”
Asked about her feelings having to watch the second match of the day unfold, Wolvaardt said, “It’s pretty stressful, all we can do is wait.”
In their match Bangladesh scored 117 for five in their 20 overs after winning the toss and opting to bat.
Sobhana Mostary top scored with 42 (48), while captain Nigar Sultana made 32 not out off 20.
The South Africans’ bowling was top drawer. Marizanne Kapp (1/9 in four) picked up a wicket with the first ball of the match and was excellent throughout her spell.
Shabnim Ismail got 1/15 in her four, Nonkululeko Mlaba picked up 2/22 in her four while Nadine de Klerk got 1/17 in two.
In the Proteas’ chase, Annerie Dercksen made 45 off 45 and Tazmin Brits got 20 off 20, but no one else managed to go big. There were some soft dismissals, including the run out of Kapp for 16. But Chloe Tryon came in and hit back-to-back boundaries to seal the deal.