SA women’s team start well with 63-run triumph

THE South African women’s team underlined their status as competition favourites with a comfortable 63-run victory against Pakistan on the first day of action in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in Sri Lanka yesterday.

South Africa’s win was built on a solid effort with the bat, in which Chloe Tryon’s 79 (69b, 5x4, 4x6) was the outstanding performance – and saw her being named player of the match – and a disciplined showing with ball, where Marizanne Kapp and Marcia Letsoalo showed excellent form.

South Africa’s captain, Dane van Niekerk, chose to bat upon winning the toss, and there was a typically aggressive start from Lizelle Lee, who blasted 18 off 12 balls to provide a quickly built foundation for the Proteas.

That allowed the likes of Mignon du Preez and Laura Wolvaardt time to settle in, while giving the more aggressive South African middle order freedom to play their shots.

Former skipper Du Preez made a controlled 40 and Kapp added 38 off just 41 balls before the major partnership of the innings between Van Niekerk and Tryon.

The latter was the aggressor in a stand of 89 for the sixth wicket, in which they occupied the crease for 19 overs. Tryon was especially brutal on Pakistan’s trio of spinners, Nashra Sandhu, Ghulam Fatima and Javeria Khan, hitting 56 of her runs off them at a rate comfortably above 100.

Van Niekerk was happy to provide the steady hand, feeding her partner the strike and scoring 30 off 57 balls.

South Africa ended on 258 in their allotted 50 overs.

The Pakistanis had a reasonable start to their pursuit, reaching 60/2 in the 17th over. However, they couldn’t find anyone to match Tryon’s rapid scoring in their middle order.

Kapp’s typically aggressive and disciplined opening burst ensured there wasn’t a fast start. A double strike from Van Niekerk followed by a run-out saw the Pakistanis slump to 83/4 in the 22nd over, and there was little way back from there.

Nain Abidi made 62, but her use of 105 balls to score that indicated just how difficult a time she had against Letsaolo, who picked up 1/22 in nine overs, and the leg-spin of Van Niekerk (2/35) and Sune Luus, who, despite going wicketless, conceded just 32 runs in 10 overs.

South Africa’s opening win left them second in Group B behind Bangladesh, who beat Papua New Guinea by 118 runs.

The top four teams in the competition will qualify for the Women’s World Cup, which will be played in England in June/July later this year.

South Africa’s next match is against Scotland in Colombo later today. – Cricket Reporter