England’s women scored a morale-boosting World Twenty20 win over Australia on Monday, winning the clash between the two unbeaten sides by seven wickets.

Both teams had already been assured of a semi-final place.

Opener Meg Lanning led the way with 39 for Australia with Lisa Sthalekar adding 38 before both were dismissed by Anya Shrubsole (two for 32).

The South Stars totalled 5-144.

In reply, No.1 ranked batter Sarah Taylor struck 65 not out from 53 balls, sharing an unbroken 63-run stand with Danielle Wyatt (33no from 17) as England posted 3-146.

England will face New Zealand in the last four on Thursday and Australia will play West Indies on Friday.

Southern Stars captain Jodie Fields was disappointed with the loss heading into the semi-finals.

“It felt like we were right in the match right up until the last couple of overs. Our batting innings went the way we wanted it to do, we aimed for 140 and we got that target.

“We have a really strong batting order and we can bat from one to eleven and I was really happy with the batting performance today.

“I guess we need to come out of this loss now and train hard over the next two days and look towards the next match.

“The West Indies are a strong team and we were lucky enough to play them in a warm-up match which gave us an idea about how we can play against them.”