The South African women continued their stellar campaign in the 2022 Women’s World Cup with a crucial win against New Zealand, as they extended their unbeaten run in the tournament to four games. The win now sees the Proteas put one foot into the semifinals, along with favourites Australia, who are currently the table-toppers, bettering South Africa only in terms of net run rate.
New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine won the toss and decided to bat first but lost her opening partner Suzie Bates very early on in the innings, as an inswinging delivery beat an attempted cover drive, crashing into the stumps. Devine and Amelia Kerr did an excellent job of building up the New Zealand innings, as they stitched together an 81-run partnership before captain Luus got rid of the dangerous Kerr.
South Africa regained a bit of control in the game when Amy Satterthwaite walked back cheaply, courtesy of an inspirational bowling change by Sune Luus to bring in Ayabhonga Khakha.
Maddy Green played a good supporting knock with Devine, scoring 30, but lost her wicket as she approached her century. She was not able to carry on much longer as the pressure of the nervous nineties got to her. Brook Halliday’s short cameo dragged the NZ tail to 228, setting the in-form Proteas a target of 229.
Khakha was undoubtedly the pick of the South African bowlers, both in terms of her bowling figures and in terms of the impact she produced as well. Her dismissal of Amy Satterthwaite for just a single run seemed to tip the scales in her side’s favour, and then also came back to dismiss the in-form Devine, who was in her 90s and wrapped up the New Zealand innings by getting rid of Jess Kerr. She finished with figures of 3/31 in 8.5 overs. She and eventual player of the match Kapp now lead the wicket-takers’ charts, with ten wickets each.
Laura Wolvaardt was brilliant early on in the innings, making a fluid start to the innings, as she managed to mask the fall of two wickets for not many runs. Wolvaardt and skipper Luus were instrumental in getting the Proteas into a good position, as they posted an 88-run partnership before they seemed to lose their way, as a period of four overs produced three wickets and just 10 runs.
When Wolvaardt and Luus were in the middle, it almost appeared as if the chase was done and dusted, especially considering how much control the Proteas batters seemed to have over the game. At no point during their partnership did it seem that the two were in any sort of pressure, expertly dealing with the White Ferns’ bowling.
Nevertheless, Amelia Kerr led a fightback that just derailed the South African chase, much against the run of play, to a point where a Proteas win seemed almost too hopeful.
However, Kapp was able to weather the storm, and guided South Africa towards the target amidst the fall of wickets. The two additional wickets that fell when the target was at touching distance did not seem to bother Kapp, who calmly took South Africa home by two wickets, as they extended their unbeaten run in the tournament. The victory all but confirms a top-two finish for their team, a huge achievement by itself.
Brief scores
New Zealand Women – 228 all out in 47.5 overs (Devine 93; Kerr 51; Khakha 3/31) lost to South Africa 229/8 in 49.3 overs (Wolvaardt 67; Luus 51; Kerr 3/50)
South Africa beat New Zealand by two wickets, with three balls to spare
