England go past SA in ODI

BRIGHTON – England bounced back from a chastening defeat in the first match of their One Day International series against South Africa with a commanding 69-run victory at Hove yesterday.

Sarah Taylor and Tammy Beaumont were the stars with the bat for the hosts, each hitting aggressive centuries and sharing a second-wicket partnership of 156 to set a platform for an imposing total of 331/6.

It was a welcome return to form for Beaumont who finished as the leading run-scorer at last year’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup but had failed to register a century in the format since hitting 148 against the same opposition last July. The diminutive right-hander put on 71 for the first wicket with Amy Jones (29) and then put her foot on the gas in combination with Taylor, who played some sublime shots on her way to a seventh ODI ton.

Taylor and Beaumont had shared a stand of 275 against the same opposition in last year’s World Cup encounter at Bristol and they rubbed more salt into the wounds as South Africa’s much-vaunted attack struggled to find their line and length.

Beaumont hit 12 fours and a six on her way to 101 from 138 balls, while Taylor was even more dominant, hitting 13 boundaries in her knock of 118 from 133 deliveries.

Heather Knight (24) and Danni Wyatt (20) made useful contributions to carry England to a total that would take some chasing.

Given the size of the task in hand, the visitors began in curiously slow fashion, with Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt meandering their way to 53 without loss in 15 overs.

However, when Lee brought up her half-century, from 69 balls, she opened her shoulders and showed her full range of strokes.

It took the big-hitting right-hander, who has now passed 50 in five of her last six ODI knocks, just 22 deliveries to move from her fifty to a second ODI hundred – and the third of the match for the first time in a women’s ODI.

Katherine Brunt rounded off the victory, dismissing Ayabonga Khaka to finish with figures of 2/34 and set up a mouth-watering finale on Friday. – ANA