South Africa registered yet another win in the World Cup against New Zealand. All-rounder Marizanne Kapp kept her nerve with a crucial 34 to clinch a narrow two-wicket win in Hamilton on Thursday (March 17).
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South Africa registered yet another win in the World Cup against New Zealand. All-rounder Marizanne Kapp held her nerve with a crucial 34 to clinch a narrow two-wicket win in Hamilton on Thursday. Having restricted the hosts to 228 despite a well-paced 93 from captain Sophie Devine, South Africa faced a collapse after the fifties from Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus. But Kapp’s cameo came to the fore, amid regular wickets, to guide South Africa to the second spot in the points table with fourth consecutive victory.
Despite losing Lizelle Lee early to a run-out, Laura Wolvaardt stitched two match-defining partnerships that kept the chase on track. With Tasmin Brits, she added 48 runs for the second-wicket whereas she added an 88-run third-wicket partnership with Luus. Soon South Africa took control and they took the team past the 100-run mark in the 25th over before the stylish opener raised a third successive fifty in the World Cup, which came off 72 balls as well.
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They took the side to 159/2 at drinks but Amelia Kerr’s twin strikes saw a mini-collapse of 3 for 9 to turn the table. The spinner first trapped Wolvaardt in front of the stumps after a 94-ball 67 and then, she ended Mignon du Preez’s stay in her 150th ODI by having her caught behind on just 1. Luus scored her fifty soon after but got out after that as South Africa slipped to 170/5, needing a run-a-ball 59.
With the equation coming down to 31 off 30, another mini-collapse took place when Mackay struck twice in her successive overs to remove Chloe Tryon (14) and Trisha Chetty (3). But Kapp smashed back to back boundaries off Lea Tahuhu in the interim to keep up with the asking rate. Sophie Devine brought herself back into the attack for the penultimate over when South Africa needed 14 off 12 and knocked over Ismail’s stumps but Marizanne Kapp found two timely boundaries to take her side over the line from a position where they could defeat as well.
Earlier in the day, Sophie Devine added two handy partnerships – 81 with Amelia Kerr for the second wicket and another of 80 runs with Maddy Green for the fourth as well. But the hosts couldn’t score much in the death-overs and managed a sub-par total of 228 despite being in a position of 198/4 when the skipper fell seven runs short of her second World Cup century. Both Ismail and Khaka tightened their lines and lengths and ensured a fatal collapse of 6 for 30.
Against the run of play, though, Luus trapped Amelia lbw on 42 and three balls later Khaka removed Amy Satterthwaite. From 88/3 after 20, they reached triple figures in the 25th over while Devine hit her fifty, off 61 deliveries as well.
However, they were at 198 for 5 at one point but couldn’t utilise the final overs and could only manage a few more runs and ended up losing all wickets within 228 runs.
Brief scores: New Zealand 228 all out in 47.5 overs (Sophie Devine 93, Amelia Kerr 42; Shabnim Ismail 3-27, Ayabonga Khaka 3-31) lost to South Africa 229/8 in 49.3 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 67, Sune Luus 51, Marizanne Kapp 34*; Amelia Kerr 3-50, Frances Mackay 2-49) by 2 wickets.
