Claire Taylor produced a scintillating unbeaten 76 as England recovered from a sluggish start to snatch a dramatic eight-wicket victory over Australia and storm into the final of the women's Twenty20 World Cup at the Kennington Oval on Friday.
Chasing a stiff target of 164, the hosts rode on Taylor's 53-ball unbeaten knock and her match-winning 122-run partnership with Beth Morgan (46) to romp home with three balls to spare.
It was a remarkable come-from-behind victory for England, who looked down the barrel at one stage.
Taylor and Morgan unleashed a flurry of strokes in the latter half of the innings to leave the Aussies in a daze.
England will take on New Zealand in the final at Lord's on Sunday.
Earlier put into bat, Australia rode on useful contributions from Leah Poulton (39 off 31), Shelley Nitschke (37 off 25) and Karen Rolton (38 off 32) to post a competitive 163 for five in stipulated 20 overs.
England suffered a jolt, losing openers Sarah Taylor (6) and Charlotte Edwards (25) before reaching 50 for two in the ninth over.
Taylor and Morgan, however, steadied the ship and staged a brilliant recovery, bringing up the hundred in the 14th over.
Taylor's innings was a mixture of control and aggression. The right-hander picked ones and twos initially before exploding in the last overs.
England's decision to put the Aussies in backfired as they pilled 49 runs in the first six overs.
Openers Poulton and Nitschke made the best use of the fielding restrictions and sent the bowlers for a leather hunt right from the start.
Poulton started the proceeding for England, whacking Brunt in her first over for a four and followed it up with another hat-trick of boundaries in her next over.
Nitschke, who was dropped by Atkins on three, also followed in the footstep of her partner and scored a boundary off Nicki Shaw in the fifth over and followed it up with a couple more in the next.
England's bowling looked pedestrian as they struggled to stop the rampaging Aussies openers, before Holy Colvin got rid off Nitschke to draw the first blood.
Laura Marsh too joined the party, dismissing the dangerous-looking Poulton with the first ball of the next over to reduce Australia to 78 for two in 9.1 overs.
Left-handed batswoman Karen Rolton, however, continued the rampage and brought up the hundred with a four in the 13th over.
Rolton stitched a 46-ball 50-run stand with Lisa Sthalekar (28 off 21), before being holed out at deep midwicket by Brunt in the 17th over off Shaw.
Sthalekar then pushed the tally beyond the 150 mark before perishing in the 19th over. Looking for a big hit, her furniture was rocked by Brunt.
Scorecard
Australia:
S Nitschke c SJ Taylor b Colvin 37
LJ Poulton b Marsh 39
LC Sthalekar b Brunt 28
KL Rolton c Brunt b Shaw 38
AJ Blackwell b Gunn 5
LK Ebsary not out 8
RM Farrell not out 1
Extras: (LB 2, W 4, NB 1) 7
Total: (for five wickets in 20 overs) 163
Fall of wickets: 1-78, 2-78, 3-138, 4-151, 5-154
Bowling: LA Marsh 4-1-12-1, KH Brunt 4-0-39-1, NJ Shaw 4-0-31-1, HL Colvin 4-0-37-1, CM Edwards 1-0-13-0, JL Gunn 3-0-29-1.
England
Sarah Taylor c Sthalekar b Farrell 6
Charlotte Edwards c Fields b Perry 25
Claire Taylor not out 76
Beth Morgan not out 46
Extras: (lb4, w8) 12
Total: (2 wkts, 19.3 overs) 165
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-43.
Bowling: Farrell 4-0-32-1; Andrews 2.3-0-24-0; Perry 4-0-32-1, Nitschke 4-0-22-0; Sthalekar 2-0-23-0; Pike 3-0-28-0.
