England’s women, having trounced South Africa through bilateral matches this summer, delivered them one last defeat that all but qualified them for a Commonwealth Games semi-final in T20 cricket. The eenage sensation Alice Capsey was again the key for England’s batting, with an even 50 out of 167 for five. South Africa never looked like meeting that pace in the chase, finishing on 141 for four.
With England’s regular captain, Heather Knight, still on crutches with a hip injury, Capsey has made the most of her absence. Her innings of 44 on Commonwealth Games debut steadied a wobbling run chase against Sri Lanka last Sunday, then she backed it up with her first half-century for England in this match. Capsey is still nine days short of her 18th birthday but is aiming to start the party early after the gold medal match this Sunday night.
South Africa’s speedster Shabnim Ismail started her team on the right note, firing off a swinging yorker with her first ball that went straight through Sophia Dunkley and flattened leg stump. But that brought Capsey to the crease and she smashed three balls over the off-side field in one Nadine de Klerk over after Danni Wyatt had scored boundaries of her own from the first two balls. Ismail returned to take Wyatt’s edge for a catch behind for 27 but Capsey carried on, flaying Ismai for four and a couple more from De Klerk, who was put on ice for the day having conceded 34 from two overs.
Still, from 79 for two at the halfway mark, England did manage to stammer. Stand-in captain Natalie Sciver nicked a ball behind from Anneke Bosch, Capsey charged the spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba and chipped a return catch after raising her milestone, then Maia Bouchier was run out next ball trying to return for a second run.
But South Africa could not press home the advantage at 94 for five, with the wicketkeeper, Amy Jones, and pace leader Katherine Brunt looting 73 runs from the final six overs. Jones rifled shots through the off side, while Brunt went huge over the midwicket rope off Bosch, before pulling out a perfect ramp shot for four from the returning Ismail. When Jones iced the cake with a last-ball six over midwicket from Ayabonga Khaka, there was no doubt that England had all the momentum.
South Africa’s in reply made exactly the same mistakes that they had made in their first match of the tournament against New Zealand. Openers, Bosch and Tazmin Brits, have historically struggled to score at a high enough rate with the fielding restrictions in place and while they bashed the occasional boundary, there were far too many dot balls in between.
The partnership lasted into the 10th over but did not get far above a run a ball, when South Africa had needed more than eight runs per over from the start. It took a beauty of a delivery from left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone to break through, bowling Bosch through the gate from around the wicket for 32. Brits followed her in the 13th over, stumped while dragging her foot out her ground while missing a reverse ramp attempt off Freya Kemp.
As in the New Zealand game, that left South Africa’s best batters far too much to do, needing nearly 12 runs an over to win. Laura Wolvaardt and Chloe Tryon did their best, sacking 15 runs from a Sarah Glenn over to keep the pulse beating, but Ecclestone was typically parsimonious and Brunt returned to take the key wicket, foxing Tryon with a slower ball that she could only hit down to long-on, rather than over the top for six.
Tryon fell for 16, Mignon du Preez a few balls later for a single run and, while Wolvaardt batted through with Sune Luus to make 41 from 33 balls, she had to attack the target from too far back. South Africa may be missing the injured Dane van Niekerk, the absent Marizanne Kapp, and the retired Lizelle Lee, but it is a sharp fall for the team that swept all before them to the semi-finals of the 50-over World Cup only a couple of months ago. The next tier of players have not delivered.
England, on the other hand, have built up an enviable level of depth, and will play New Zealand on Thursday to settle who will finish in Group B’s top spot, who will finish second, and who will face Australia in a semi-final.
