Wed. Nov 27th, 2024
Occasional Digest - a story for you

England were solid if unspectacular in the opening T20 in East London on Saturday, but this was an utterly dominant victory.

They made a poor start, slipping to 15-2 when Maia Bouchier chipped the ball to mid-wicket for 20, before Sophia Dunkley fell for a duck two balls later with a nervy prod that flicked off the inside edge and onto the stumps.

That brought Sciver-Brunt to the middle to join Wyatt-Hodge and England never looked back.

They were given a helping hand by South Africa, who dropped Wyatt-Hodge twice, on nine and 29, while Sciver-Brunt was also dropped on 25.

The hosts struggled with their line and length, failing to take advantage of a pitch that offered more pace and bounce than the stodgy surface in East London.

Wyatt-Hodge’s brutal innings included 15 fours and one huge six over long-on, before she departed after a well-directed De Klerk yorker.

That failed to halt England’s momentum as lively cameos from Heather Knight, who made 26 off 19, and Amy Jones, 15 off seven, ensured England passed 200 for just the fourth time in T20 internationals.

Only one side has ever chased down a target of 200 or more in women’s T20 internationals and it never looked like happening here.

Sciver-Brunt removed opener Tazmin Brits for a duck in the opening over of South Africa’s reply.

Glenn then ripped through South Africa’s middle order, removing Faye Tunnicliffe, Annerie Dercksen and Nondumiso Shangase – the latter two with consecutive balls – to reduce South Africa to 86-5 and remove any urgency from the game.

The returning Chloe Tryon showed some resistance with 30 from 24 balls before becoming the fourth batter to be clean bowled by Glenn to all but secure victory for England.

Source link

Leave a Reply