The Proteas did what they needed to do. It wasn’t without error or nerves, but then that is not the South African way. On Tuesday night it didn’t matter, the spot in the home semifinal was secured with a 10-wicket victory over a brave Bangladesh at a chilly Newlands. England, who they face on Friday, won’t be losing any sleep over the prospect of playing the Proteas. It was another ragged performance from Sune Luus’ side, whose fielding, while energetic, was also sloppy and gifted the Bangladeshis about 20 more runs than they merited. The bowling was excellent as it usually is and as it has to be with this South African side given the timidness of the batting. Marizanne Kapp, Shabnim Ismail and Nonkululeko Mlaba created pressure in Bangladesh’s power play restricting them to just 23 runs, while the experienced seam duo picked up a wicket each. South Africa’s bowlers made scoring difficult while the fielding was always keen and for the first half of the innings reasonably accurate. However once Bangladesh changed tact, eschewing boundary-hitting and choosing instead to run harder between the wickets, South Africa's standards dropped alarmingly. They gave away overthrows, there were a couple of dropped catches, a few mis-fields, allowing Bangladeshi captain Nigar Joty to create a partnership with Sobhana Mostary that threatened to set South Africa a total that would have created as much tension as Sri Lanka did in the opening match. Joty, Mostary and later Nahida Akter certainly engaged in some risky running, but it was proving productive given the Proteas’ imprecision. With the fielders providing no help, the bowlers took it upon themselves to engineer breakthroughs, with Kapp, Mlaba and Ayabonga Khaka twice knocking back the stumps. Kapp’s was the most important when she delivered a delicious off-cutter that deceived Joty, who bottom-edged the ball onto the stumps after top-scoring with 30. Kapp delivered another masterful display with the ball, claiming 2/17 with 10 balls. That start of the run chase was dreadfully tense. Laura Wolvaardt, well short of her best in this competition, was given out lbw second ball to the impressive Marufa Akter, a decision the South African batter reviewed. The replays showed the ball sliding down the leg side much to her and the crowd's relief. Her opening partner Tazmin Brits was dropped by Mostary in the next over — a simple chance offered at mid-off. Then came a terrible mix up between the two batters that saw them both end up at the non-striker's end after Brits refused to respond to a call for a quick single. That final incident seemed to galvanise Wolvaardt, who struck a superb pull off the penultimate ball of the fifth over to the midwicket fence for six. Though there was still frenetic shot-making, that six broke the tension. Wolvaardt, who has looked like she’s carrying the nation's problems on her shoulders, gradually began playing more freely. She reached her fifth T20 international half-century with a pair of superb boundaries; the first a classic cover drive , the next a power sweep over square leg. Finally a smile crossed her face as she raised her bat and gave a thumbs-up to her family in the crowd. She finished on 66 not out, hitting seven fours and that six. She was joined a short while late by Brits, who completed a yoga pose as part of her celebrations. Ultimately the two openers were able to knock off the runs themselves, making the outcome seem a lot more comfortable than the match actually was. It will take several steps up in standards to beat England. They have two days to figure out how they will do that. .