The Proteas are the only other undefeated team in a tournament that has been turned on its head in the past week with England’s resurgence and New Zealand’s capitulation at home.

But the constant has been Australia winning, five matches in a row, the most recent being a machine-like chase of 277 against India last Saturday, with the tournament favourites again getting serious top-order returns.

Through the opening five matches of the tournament the Australian batting dominance has been clear with the top five or six, including all-round Tahlia McGrath, getting all the runs in all but one game.

Beth Mooney is averaging 138, courtesy of four not out innings, and said the Aussies would not take the foot off the pedal, or tinker with the line-up, despite being a semi-final lock with two pool games to go.

“Towards the back end of this competition you want to gather as much momentum as you can leading in to the semis and potentially a final,” Mooney said on Monday.

“We’ve shown we have the depth in this squad to make sure we are pushing the letter a bit. But we’ll put or best team on the park even though we have locked in that semi-final.

“We still want to make a huge statement leading in to that semi-final. You’ll see the best of the Australian team across the next two games.”

Australia hasn’t played South Africa in an ODI since the 2017 World Cup. The Aussies have also never lost any of the 13 matches between the two teams since 1997, with a tie in 2016 the closest South Africa has come to winning.

But Mooney said the Aussies were also armed with sufficient “intel”, with several of the South Africans, including star Marizanne Kapp, in the WBBL, to know what they were coming up against.

“It’s a huge point that got raised in our meeting. South Africa have been on a bit of a run across those five years (since the last meeting),” she said.

“We’re pretty confident with the intel we have on them, both playing with some of them at the WBBL and against the girls who have been around for along period of time. We’ll be sharing that information amongst ourselves.”

The Proteas have defied pre-tournament predictions and took down the Kiwis and defending champs England in last-over classics

“South Africa have shown they can win those close games. That’s really impressive,” Mooney said.

But Mooney also smacked 30 runs off 20 balls to get Australia home with just three balls to spare against India in a sign the Aussies too can shine in clutch moments.

“It was a little bit stressful having to nail that game at the end,” she said

“It’s exciting, it’s challenging, there’s a lot of pressure that gets added. But I thrive off the fact there is always an opportunity to learn and challenge myself in that position.”