The Proteas Women failed with the bat for the third time in the Women’s World T20, and Friday’s loss to the England Women sees them eliminated from the tournament.
Proteas Women skipper Dane van Niekerk won the toss and did the sensible thing by electing to bat first and give her side the chance to set England a target rather than be left chasing a total.
The Proteas batters failed once again to give their world-class bowlers a decent target to defend. Lizelle Lee scored 12 off 26 balls, but the rest of the top four failed to reach double figures, with Van Niekerk being run out for a single for the second match in a row.
With the score on a disastrous 40-3 from 8.5 overs, Mignon du Preez (16 off 19 balls, one six) and Chloe Tryon (27 off 28 balls, one four, two sixes) did their best to turn the Proteas innings around, but both were back in the hut with the score on 79-6.
As with the game against the West Indies Women, the Proteas Women’s lower order collapsed like a cheap tent as they lost two wickets with the score on 79, and then three wickets in three balls at the start of the 20th over, as Anya Shrubsole dismissed Shabnim Ismail, Masabata Klaas and Yolani Fourie to complete a hat-trick and end the Proteas’ innings on 85 after 19.3 overs.
Shrubsole returned the impressive figures of 3.3-1-11-3 (econ 3.14) and Kirstie Gordon was wonderfully professional in returning 2-18 (econ 4.50), although the hero of the innings was Player of the Match Natalie Sciver, who returned the remarkable figures of 4-1-4-3 (econ 1.00). Sciver trapped Lee leg before and also knocked over top scorer Tryon and 19-year-old Faye Tunnicliffe.
The England openers got off to a great start, adding 55 runs without loss before the Proteas struck three times for the addition of just five runs to give them a late glimmer of hope. Van Niekerk removed Danielle Wyatt (27 off 27, four fours) and Tammy Beaumont (24 off 25, three fours), while Moseline Daniels knocked over Sciver for two runs.
Heather Knight (14 off 17 balls, two fours) and Amy Jones (14 off 11 balls, two fours) saw England through to the win without further loss of wickets to earn a seven-wicket win with 35 balls in hand.
Van Niekerk (2-13, econ 4.10) and Daniels (1-13, econ 3.25) had the best returns with the ball with the Proteas, but it was the failure with the bat once again that has booked their passage home earlier than they would have hoped.
Photo: Matthew Lewis-IDI/IDI via Getty Images
