South Africa have previous for being dismantled by spin. In their 10-wicket demolition at the hands of England, left-arm spinner Linsey Smith accounted for Wolvaardt, Brits, and Kapp as she claimed figures of 3-7 while Sophie Ecclestone and Charlie Dean took two wickets apiece.
On Saturday, an inspired performance from King was at the heart of their collapse, exposing frailties against spin, when batting first, and when their top-order fails to fire.
Australia, by contrast, head into the semi-finals not only unbeaten, but boosted by yet another player stepping up with a match-defining performance.
King’s first two wickets were handed to her, Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp both attempting needlessly aggressive shots and popping simple catches to fielders, but there was little good fortune about the rest of her spell.
She began with 14 consecutive dot balls, taking wickets with four of them, and bowled 33 in total from 42 deliveries.
Four of her seven wickets were bowled, with Annerie Dercksen undone by a flighted delivery and Sinalo Jafta, Masabata Klaas, and Nadine de Klerk falling victim to the grip and turn she got off the surface.
Relentless in her approach, the majority of her deliveries, including six of her seven wicket-taking balls, were good or back of a length.
King had largely gone under the radar during Australia’s campaign. Economical but unremarkable in the middle overs, her six wickets had been overshadowed by all-round contributions from fellow spinner Gardner and Annabel Sutherland.
But on Saturday, she reminded everyone of the threat she poses in the middle overs, orchestrating South Africa’s collapse from 42-2 to 97 all out.
She has now taken 13 wickets at this World Cup and 25 wickets in just 12 ODIs in 2025, with the latter haul bettered by only Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, and Nonkululeko Mlaba, all of whom have played at least three matches more than the Australian and cannot match her average (15.52) or economy (4.34).