A Laura Wolvaardt half-century helped the Proteas Women to a six-wicket victory over Bangladesh Women in Bloemfontein to complete a dominant 5-0 whitewash.
Bangladesh were put into bat first and struggled once again to find free-flowing runs. Their innings was dominated by two solid knocks from Shamima Sultana (54) and a 74 from their skipper Rumana Ahmed.
They managed to prevent being knocked out but did so in a conservative fashion, batting at 3.32 runs per over. Shabnim Ismail (3-17) and Marizanne Kapp (2-21) took the bulk of the wickets for the Proteas as they restricted Bangladesh to 166-9 in 50 overs.
The Proteas started off well. Lizelle Lee and Wolvaardt put on an opening partnership of 79 in 16.3 overs. A double by Khadija Tul Kubra stalled the Proteas chase slightly as Lee was dismissed after 44 off 49 balls and Trisha Chetty followed a ball later for a duck.
Wolvaardt though ignored the quick fall of wickets and powered on. Despite losing her captain Dane van Niekerk and Chloe Tryon, she managed to stick around to seal a victory for the Proteas Women.
Wolvaardt finished with 66 off 94 balls, her ninth half-century in 32 matches.
CSA congratulated the ladies for their dominant performance.
‘Congratulations to the Proteas on a brilliant performance,’ said CSA Acting Chief Executive Thabang Moroe. ‘A 5-0 series win is a magnificent effort and augurs extremely well for our forthcoming tour to England when we will play matches both against our hosts, the Women’s World Cup champions, as well as New Zealand.
‘It has been good to see the entire squad get game time and our congratulations go to our captain, Dane van Niekerk, all her players and support staff and particularly the Acting Head Coach, Salieg Nackerdien, who had to step into this role at very short notice while our Head Coach, Hilton Moreeng, was on compassionate leave.’
Photo: CSA
