South Africa Women were put through their paces in the first T20I against India Women at MA Chidambaram Stadium, needing Tazmin Brits’s unbeaten 81 and Marizanne Kapp’s 33-ball 57 to put themselves into an advantageous position for victory.
Jemimah Rodrigues battled hard, but ultimately fell short by 12 runs. In this article, we will discuss the main point of South Africa Women Vs India Women T20.
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana
India’s top-order batswomen must lead their side towards victory in a crucial contest. Smriti Mandhana will look to build on her fantastic century against South Africa in their inaugural match and make this tour memorable for herself and her teammates; similarly, Jemimah Rodrigues must rediscover her form after suffering an underperformance in their opener game.
India will look to emulate their performance from Game 1, restricting South Africa to under 200 runs during their innings. Pooja Vastrakar, Asha Shobhana and Shreyanka Patil will look to take wickets regularly while keeping South Africa’s total under two digits.
South Africa will look to put behind them their disappointing first game performance and build on it with some impressive scores in game 2. Their batsmen have shown consistency so far with Tazmin Brits, Laura Wolvaardt, Anneke Bosch and Marizanne Kapp all hitting half centuries during game one.
Stand-in captain Sune Luus will be an integral figure for the Proteas Women, having shown her qualities against Pakistan Women in their last outing. They will also benefit from Jemimah Rodrigues making an impression after returning from back surgery, keen to make an impression for their country.
South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (wk), Tazmin Brits
Brits is in the middle of her team’s batting order but is looking at the bigger picture. Although playing shortest format cricket may present its own set of challenges, she is enjoying herself and relishing in what lies ahead of her.
At first she drives the ball towards midwicket on a fuller delivery for one run before driving another fuller one towards short fine leg and taking four!
Brits and Bosch make their partnership count with two singles off of the first two balls as Brits makes good on his promise of making runs off them.
The pair are in fine form, adding over 50 for the opening wicket to put South Africa in an advantageous position at halfway stage of their ten-over innings.
But, due to heavy rain, play has been interrupted and it seems unlikely that play will resume before its scheduled time.
Indian Women’s Cricket Team will look to build on their solid start and extend their winning run in T20Is against South Africa, having already won 14 out of 23 ODIs against them, while remaining undefeated over three T20Is against them. Led by Harmanpreet Kaur and featuring Mithali Raj – her return is crucial ahead of ICC World Cup 2024 England/Wales next month where they’ll join Shreyanka, Arundhati and Deepti Sharma’s squad as they head into battle against South African.
Anneke Bosch
Anneke Bosch made history at MA Chidambaram Stadium when South Africa won their match-up against India Women by way of an extraordinary hitting and bowling performance from Anneke Bosch, Nat Sciver (who became the first woman ever to score three T20I centuries) and Alice Davidson-Richards. Additionally, Anneke Bosch finished as South Africa’s leading wicket-taker claiming three wickets over 15 overs for South Africa – something very few can claim as they had done previously!
Sune Luus included Bosch in her two-format bilateral series team because of her impressive T20 career; even though she may not have scored many runs at T20 level. Bosch proved incredibly versatile across shorter formats which was essential for South African success.
Bosch played an essential part in South Africa’s win against India Women Women in their first T20I, but she once again showed her versatility during South Africa’s chase for an above-par score in game two as she hit three fours off Patil in an over as they closed in on reaching an above-average total.
Her work did not end there, however; Bosch returned to attack in the final over and reduced India to 19-2 with an economical spell before picking up Harleen Deol – their mainstay with 47 balls batted for 52 runs – in her third and final over of the match for just 1 run – an act which sent India reeling, eventually all out for 177 in 25 overs courtesy of Bosch’s outstanding work both with ball and bat to earn another Player-of-the-Match award in this series; her impressive efforts helped earn her Player-of-the-Match awards both times deservedly earned her accolades as did her outstanding performances!
Nadine de Klerk
Nadine de Klerk, from South Africa’s Northerns Women cricket side, made her Women’s ODI and T20I debuts for South Africa in 2017, followed by their T20I debut shortly thereafter. De Klerk was selected as part of Cricket South Africa’s Powerade Women’s National Academy Seven intake for 2019.
She bats right-handed and bowls right arm medium pace right arm arm balling. Born 16 January 2000 and playing as middle order batsperson.
South Africa was finding it difficult to generate any momentum during their second innings as they lost three wickets on their way to reaching 302/6 at lunch break – trailing India by 105 runs at this stage – though Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus fought hard on behalf of Proteas to delay an inevitable loss.
Wolvaardt scored her maiden Test century en route to becoming the first woman ever to hit three centuries within one calendar year: Test, ODI and T20I ton.
Annerie Dercksen and Sinalo Jafta joined Anneke Bosch and Marizanne Kapp in the chase but unfortunately, Jafta retired hurt due to cramps, leaving Anneke Bosch to hit an immediate boundary off her very first ball and go on to make an unbeaten 57 from 32 balls with six fours and one six hit from just 12 deliveries for India’s victory by 10 wickets – India now leading 2-0 in this three-match series with Chennai scheduled as match three on Tuesday.
Marizanne Kapp
Marizanne Kapp was in inspired form for South Africa during this one-off Test against India, scoring her maiden one-day international (ODI) half century in her opening innings and helping South Africa amass an impressive total of 189-4. This feat was helped considerably by Laura Wolvaardt (81 off 56 balls) providing support. Kapp’s aggressive play saw her hit four sixes off only 57 deliveries.
Growing up, Kapp was an avid participant in many different sports – rugby, soccer and cricket being among them – representing her local club in several tournaments before going on to represent Eastern Province at provincial tournaments.
After an orderly start to their innings, South Africa’s top-order batsmen soon began struggling against some poor bowling from India’s bowlers. Sune Luus and Anne Bosch both fell with 50 for 1; Kapp was joined by Laura Wolvaardt who struck two fours off her first three deliveries before being reprieved twice by India’s fielders including an excellent diving catch from Deepti Sharma at short third man.
India’s off-spin duo of Rana and Deepti Sharma made quick work of turning the game on its head. South African batsmen struggled hard against India’s off-spin attack but couldn’t prevent India reaching 236-4 at Tea.
As Ayabonga Khaka was injured and could not spin red-ball cricket for her team, Kapp took on the responsibility of steering South Africa out of danger. She quickly struck four boundaries in the first over by sweeping Raveenath for four; later on Kapp smashed home a full and straight delivery on middle which she hit to third man for another four!
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