South Africa: 124/6
Wolvaardt 42, Kapp 26, Dercksen 20*, Ecclestone 2/15
England: 125/3
Sciver-Brunt 48*, Wyatt-Hodge 44, Kapp 1/17, Mlaba 1/22
England won by seven wickets
Zaahier Adams
England exacted their revenge for last year’s defeat to the Proteas in the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup semi-final with a comfortable seven-wicket victory in Sharjah last night.
In fact, the Proteas had won their last two encounters against England at the T20 World Cup, but England were determined to not hand the Proteas’ a hat-trick of wins.
The former champions showed their experience and class during the run-chase with Dani Wyatt-Hodge (44) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (48*) playing their roles to perfection during their match-winning 64-run partnership off 55 balls.
Wyatt-Hodge dropped anchor with the knowledge that Sciver-Brunt had the range of attacking shots to take care of the required run-rate that remained around seven throughout England’s run-chase.
Unlike England that relied on a heavy spin strategy, delivering 16 overs of slow poison, the Proteas stuck to their mostly seam attack. This posed precious little problems for England’s batters who found the extra pace much to their liking.
There was a slight wobble when Marizanne Kapp (1/17) trapped Maia Bouchier LBW for eight before inducing a false stroke from Alice Capsey. To Kapp’s chagrin, Capsey's cut shot went straight through Anneke Bosch’s hands at point.
Although Capsey (19) was flummoxed by Nadine de Klerk’s slower ball shortly afterwards, there was sufficient time for her to make an impact with a couple of boundaries towards the end of the powerplay.
Wyatt-Hodge was not at the crease when the winning runs were struck, having been stumped towards the back end off Nonkululeko Mlaba for 43 (43 balls, 4x4), but Sciver-Brunt remained the epitome of calmness to delightfully to take her team home with four balls to spare.
The Proteas had begun in a positive fashion with a 37-run powerplay for the loss of only Tazmin’s Brits wicket as the opener, in an effort to force the pace at the start of the final over of the fielding restrictions, was caught at mid-off after an attempt to go aerial down the ground.
Captain Laura Wolvaardt was striking the ball fluently at that stage, caressing the ball through the covers and swiping through mid-wicket, and seemed to be at ease with the pace of the sluggish surface.
But it was from here on that England’s quartet of spinners tightened the noose. The objective was to give the Proteas’ batters no width outside the off stump and it certainly reaped dividends against Bosch.
The Proteas No 3 struggled from the outset to get the ball off the square with Bosch failing to maintain the momentum of the innings. With the dot balls piling up at the one end, the pressure started to increase on Wolvaardt with the skipper also losing her earlier fluency.
England had their chances during this period with Bosch being dropped by a diving Sophie Ecclestone at mid-off, while wicket-keeper Sophie Jones also spilled a hard chance behind the stumps off a Wolvaardt edge.
The pressure valve eventually burst when Bosch finally unwrapped a delicate reverse-sweep to break a streak off 44 consecutive deliveries since the last boundary. But instead of the boundary reigniting the Proteas’ innings, Sarah Glenn responded by clean bowling Bosch the very next ball.
Kapp brought a much-needed urgency to the crease with a couple of flat-batted boundaries in quick succession, but again just when the Proteas seemed to be getting back on track Ecclestone slipped in one of her lethal quicker arm deliveries to rattle Wolvaard’s stumps.
Chloe Tryon could not make the impact the Proteas would have hoped from their big-hitter when she walked past a straight delivery from Charlie Dean before Ecclestone bagged the major wicket of Kapp in the next over.
The fact that the Proteas were eventually able to post a competitive total was only due to youngster Annerie Dercksen getting down on one knee to smash the only six of the innings and two further boundaries in her 11-ball 20 not out, but it was not enough on a sweltering night in Sharjah.