Disciplined bowling show backed by a solid batting performance paved the way for England to beat dark horses South Africa by 2 wickets in the nail biting 1st semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup at the County Ground, Bristol. The qualification to the finals, 7th in their history, was constructed based on a strong collective effort with bat and ball coupled with a great display of nerves in the final moments of the game.
South Africa came close but eventually missed out narrowly to squander the chance of creating history today as their inability to strangle the English batting in the final overs ended all possibilities of qualifying to the summit clash for the first time.
Their best performance will remain the semi-final appearances in 2000 and 2017 for some time now.
After electing to bat first, Dane van Niekerk and her girls managed just 218/6 in 50 overs. The English ladies bowled tight lines and picked regular wickets to hamper the opposition’s batting efforts.
In response, wicket keeper batswoman Sarah Taylor (54 from 76 balls) and skipper Heather Knight (30 from 56 balls) led the chase smoothly before the South Africans caused a turnaround and put the character of the English ladies to test.
Fortunately, Fran Wilson (30 from 38 balls) and Katherine Brunt (12 from 27 balls) along with Jenny Gunns (27* from 27 balls) in the lower middle order ensured that there was no upset and knocked off the target with 2 balls ball to spare.
England had a steady start to their winning process as openers Lauren Winfield and Tammy Beaumont put up 42 runs for the first wicket although both failed to register impressive personal scores. Taylor and Knight then combined and added 78 for the 3rd wicket to set a perfect tone.
However, South Africa soon forced themselves into the contest by creating an vital opening with three quick wickets including both the set batswomen – Taylor and Knight – starting with the dismissal of the former who was run out off a direct hit in the 33rd over. The demise of the stand had a horrible aftermath as Knight departed off the very next delivery followed by the wicket of Sciver in the next over.
Wilson and Brunt did some damage control but the South African bowlers weren’t in any mood to let the game slip away that easily. Moseline Daniels snapped Brunt to end the small yet dangerous looking partnership in the 43rd over. Fran Wilson continued her great job and kept pushing the South Africa resilience aside. However, Marizanne Kapp gave the hosts the biggest setback of the day with wicket of Wilson in the 48th over.
South Africa successfully brought the game down the wire. With three required from the last over, the bowling team sensed a real chance and when Shabnim Ismail removed Laura Marsh off the third delivery, it felt that game was ready for a last minute flip-flop.
But, unfortunately, there was no special victory waiting for the South Africans as Shrubsole did the needful by smashing a boundary for winning runs to finish the game and bring a massive relief in the English camp.
Earlier, the start was not so great for South Africa with opener Lizelle Lee losing her wicket for just 7 runs. The innings looked on track for a brief while as Trisha Chetty, the wicket keeper, began rebuilding the innings with Laura Wolvaart. However, their 27 runs stand was short-lived as it was brought to an end by the super sharp glove work of Sarah Taylor in the 12th over.
Later, Wolvaart, along with Mignon du Preez made England wait for extended sucess as they stood firm and carried the innings forward. The duo contributed 77 for the 3rd wicket to bring things under control.
But, England swung back the momentum back in their favor as Heather Knight delivered a double blow that shook the foundation of the South African innings that promised to reach a 275+ total.
In the 32nd over, Wolvaart (66 from 100 balls) was cleaned up which brought the stand to a halt. Two balls later, in the same over, Marizane Kapp was run out after her attempt to take a quick single failed badly.
With the loss of Kapp, the momentum was entirely lost. South Africa did manage to add runs but at a run rate which barely crept over the 4.5 runs mark. Du Preez remained unbeaten at 76 off 95 balls while Dane van Niekerk (27 from 39 balls) and Sune Luus (21 from 25 balls) made considerable contributions in the lower middle order to propel the team total past the 200 runs mark.
Brief Scores:
South Africa: 218/6 (Mignon du Preez 76; Heather Knight 1/8)
England: 221/8 (Sarah Taylor 54; Sune Luus 2/24)
Man of the Match: Sarah Taylor