Following on from their emphatic victory over Jersey yesterday, Brazil returned to action with a double-header in Zurich, first taking on Spain before facing hosts Switzerland.
Brazil captain Carolina Nascimento won the toss against the Spaniards and opted to bowl first. Perhaps she wanted to test her players in a different scenario, having been put into bat by Jersey the previous day.
Her opening bowlers, Maria McGahey Ribeiro (Duda) and Laura Bittencourt, kept things incredibly tight early on, conceding just five runs before Bittencourt dismissed Alexis Hartley for only one.
Heading into the Powerplay, Brazil had restricted Spain to just 18/1.
Spain began to build some momentum after the fielding restrictions ended, but they also lost the wicket of Naomi Hilma-Bermejo, thanks to some tidy bowling from Lindsay Vilas Boas, who carried on from her impressive performance against Jersey yesterday.
At the halfway stage, Spain found themselves 44/2. Following the drinks break, however, Deepa Chukkapalli and Amy Brown-Carrera put together a useful 51-run partnership before Chukkapalli spooned Marianne Artur’s delivery into the air, allowing Laura Agatha to take a simple catch and leave Spain 84/3 after 14.4 overs.
Kat Frost and Brown-Carrera then accelerated the scoring, with Brown-Carrera bringing up an impressive 55 from just 34 balls, before being run out.
Frost added a valuable 24 from 17 deliveries before chipping a Lindsay Cardoso ball to Duda.
Uswa Syed chipped in with six runs towards the end of the innings before Brown-Carrera was denied a red-inker while attempting to scramble back for a second run, meaning Spain closed on 142 for 5 from their 20 overs.
Brazil showed their intent from ball one with the bat as Vilas Boas started the innings with an impressive six to kick off the South American side’s chase.
Uswa Syed struck early in the second over, thanks to a catch from Olivia Gwilliam Lopez, but it wasn’t the dangerous Vilas Boas who departed. Instead, it was her opening partner, Laura Agatha, who was dismissed for six from four balls with Brazil 30 for 1.
The very next ball, at the start of a new over, Hillman-Bermejo claimed the big wicket of Vilas Boas, who chopped onto her own stumps, leaving Brazil needing to rebuild their innings.
Maria Garcia responded immediately by striking her first ball for four to ease any early pressure.
Laura Cardoso was next to fall, for 5 from 3 balls after picking out a sub fielder, leaving Brazil 42/3.
Despite losing wickets, Brazil continued to play positively. Garcia and Monnike Rufino kept the scoreboard ticking with some aggressive stroke play, helping Brazil to 72/3 at the end of the powerplay, needing another 71 runs from 84 balls to make it two wins from two.
Another catch in the deep, this time from Brown-Carrera, saw Garcia depart for 17. However, Brazil remained firmly in control as Rufino and Ana Clara Sabino produced more impressive power hitting, taking the score to 139/4 at drinks, needing just four more runs for victory.
Rufino had brought up an excellent half-century, while Clara Sabino raced to 33 from just 10 balls.
Rufino finished the job shortly after drinks with a lovely straight drive, sealing Brazil’s second victory of the tournament and booking their place in the final.
In their second match of the day, captain Nascimento opted to rest herself, with Cardoso taking over the captaincy in the only change to the starting XI from the victory over Spain.
Switzerland won the toss and elected to bat, with their captain giving the side licence to attack from the outset. However, they couldn’t quite get going against a Brazilian bowling attack that simply had too much quality for them.
Brazil opened with their usual bowling partnership of Duda and Bittencourt, who made another solid start, restricting the hosts to 27 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, with Duda picking up the opening wicket.
The dominance continued at the halfway stage as Brazil reduced Switzerland to 36 for 2. Vilas Boas claimed her fifth wicket of the tournament by bowling Sreekumar Divya for 8 from 24 balls.
Immediately after the drinks break, Bittencourt completed a nice caught-and-bowled to dismiss Meghna Rajan, before Vani Dhanuka departed for just one after Maria Garcia took a comfortable catch from the bowling of Nicole Monteiro.
Things went from bad to worse for the hosts, who lost two wickets in the space of three balls.
Melissa Pienaar departed for 10, before Brazil claimed their first LBW wicket of the tournament as stand-in captain, Cardoso trapped Laila Pickard in front, leaving Switzerland struggling at 50/6.
The wickets continued to tumble for Switzerland. Naina Metty Saju departed for five, while Samiha Kouganti made 10 before being run out by Rufino.
Danashi Medagoda was next to go after being clean bowled by Cardoso, before Duda completed the innings by bowling Sarya Kontha to wrap up another impressive bowling display as Switzerland were dismissed for just 76. All six bowlers used by the South Americans picked up at least one wicket.
That left Brazil with a straightforward chase, and the only real question was how quickly they could get the runs.
Switzerland didn’t give up with the ball and managed to take four wickets, but Brazil remained in control, chasing down the target in just 8.2 overs, in an emphatic six-wicket victory.
At 80 for 4, Vilas Boas top-scored with 23 from just 10 balls. Agatha added three, Cardoso made 12, while Garcia contributed 16.
The unbeaten batters for Brazil were Evelyn Muller (15*) and Clara Sabino (6*), with Muller finishing the chase in style by striking a lovely four.
Brazil now turn their sights towards silverware after progressing directly to the final, where they will face the winner of Spain and Switzerland’s qualifier tomorrow.
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