Key events
WICKET! Luus run out (Sciver-Brunt) 1 (2) South Africa 114-6
Oh! A deflection of NSB’s boot runs out Luus when backing up! The England superstar celebrates as a footballer might after scoring. You’ll see that on social media.
19th over: South Africa 114-5 (Dercksen 11, Luus 1) Ecclestone has bowled superbly, varying her pace in the best tradition of clever finger spinners – they don’t stand a chance of taking her out to the rope, four off. Ecclestone finishes with 2/15. Standard.
WICKET! Kapp b Ecclestone 26 (17) South Africa 110-5
Ecclestone again! With the first ball of the penultimate over she’s picked up Kapp in much the same way she did Wolvaardt, crashing into the middle stump after taking plenty of pace off her stock delivery. Class, as always. Ends a very good knock.
18th over: South Africa 110-4 (Kapp 26, Dercksen 8) BOOM! Smith did everything right until the final ball when Annerie Dercksen slot-swept her outside the off-stump over midwicket into the crowd! That’s the first six of the night and at the ideal time.
WICKET! Tryon b Dean 2 (5) South Africa 99-4
It’s Kapp who turns up the volume here with back-to-back boundaries, over cover against the spin then through midwicket with it. This has been a beaut of an innings, changing the energy entirely. But Dean bites back with her final ball bowling Tryon with from a very full length. They were disciplined, giving her nothing, and it worked.
17th over: South Africa 99-4 (Kapp 23)
16th over: South Africa 89-3 (Kapp 14, Tryon 1) Ecclestone to Tryon is a proper contest, and the points go to the spinner from this initial interaction: a yorker squeezed to point then a well-flighted alternative pushed to cover. It does mean Tryon keeps the strike though with Dean about to bowl to a player who will want to smash with the spin.
WICKET! Wolvaardt b Ecclestone 42 (39) South Africa 88-3
Ecclestone! It’s always Ecclestone. Beautiful dip, on target, middle stump rocked. Wolvaardt had to find a way to take her on but this wasn’t high-percentage. As Lydia Greenway notes on telly though, this does bring Chloe Tryon to the middle…
15th over: South Africa 85-2 (Wolvaardt 42, Kapp 11) Sciver-Brunt returns and Kapp takes her opportunity to work with some pace early on, crunching over extra cover for a classy boundary. Some player. Later in the over she had a dart at the same shot but doesn’t quite middle it, giving Knight the chance to dive away to her left and drag it down – that saves at least a couple. Ten off though; the best over of the innings. From here, South Africa are set up to get up above 120, which will take some chasing.
14th over: South Africa 75-2 (Wolvaardt 40, Kapp 3) Kapp slaps her first ball past point for a couple that was very nearly a run out! Wolvaardt was happy with the one but Kapp was coming back but the throw went to the wrong end – not to be for England in the field, once again. The game feels different right away with Kapp out there, middling a single down the ground. Eight runs (and the wicket) from the over. Better.
WICKET! Bosch b Glenn 18 (26) South Africa 71-2
Both teams might be happy with that. Bosch nailed a lovely reverse from Glenn’s first ball of the new over – exactly what she needed to start doing. Next ball it was an attempted lap: she missed, the legspinner hit. Time for Marizanne Kapp.
13th over: South Africa 67-1 (Wolvaardt 39, Bosch 14) We’ve hit the point where it’s in South Africa’s interest to lose a wicket to give Chloe Tryon and Marizane Kapp a crack – a point made on TV too. Smith returns, no boundaries, seven off. It’s not been 44 balls since the last time South Africa found the rope. Should they retire Bosch out?
12th over: South Africa 60-1 (Wolvaardt 37, Bosch 9) Facing four spinners, a T20 innings can get away from a batting team pretty quickly and that’s the risk for South Africa unless they can start to assert themselves again. You can see Wolvaardt trying to do that using her feel to Glenn but it’s all singles here once again. Another leg before shout comes at the end of the over, with Bosch again unable to make contact on the sweep, but it’s given not out and Knight indicates that she thought it was missing off-stump so they don’t refer it. England’s spinners have been excellent since the power play, conceding just 25 runs in the next seven overs. Knight is turning the screws nicely.
11th over: South Africa 56-1 (Wolvaardt 35, Bosch 7) Shout for leg before from the first ball after drinks… turned down. It’s Ecclestone asking the question and Bosch missing her sweep – they don’t review due to the height height. I thought that was out? We get a second look thanks to TV and it was umpires’ call – fair enough. Before you know it, Ecclestone has already reached the final ball of the over with just two singles conceded – she’s brilliant at getting back to her mark and keeping the pressure on. Bosch can’t beat midwicket to finish – she’s 7 from 18, which is becoming a problem after South Africa’s (relatively) brisk start, their run rate now down to just over five an over.
10th over: South Africa 54-1 (Wolvaardt 34, Bosch 6) Watching that drop back between overs, it was the most straightforward of the four with Ecclestone getting a good look and meeting the ball above knee height in her dive. Back to Glenn who races through another frugal set, Bosch unable to get her out of the fielding ring. Wolvaardt gets her chance from the final ball of the over and places out to deep midwicket, calling through a second run – it looks a chance for England but the throw isn’t good enough. Drinks!
9th over: South Africa 51-1 (Wolvaardt 32, Bosch 5) Charlie Dean has three back on the legside now and bowls to that field, Wolvaardt unable to put away a drag down with a fielder at backward square. And another drop to finish! Sophie Ecclestone puts down Bosch on the edge of the circle at mid-off. The theme continues with this being a tough opportunity having to time her dive well, but none of the four have stuck so far.
8th over: South Africa 45-1 (Wolvaardt 28, Bosch 3) Now Sarah Glenn, the fourth spinner for England – their leggie. Expect her to attack the stumps with the field back. And so she does, three singles – Heath Knight is on camera and visibly happy with that.
7th over: South Africa 42-1 (Wolvaardt 26, Bosch 2) Another drop for England! Ecclestone, the best bowler in the world, finds Wolvaardt’s edge first ball when looking to cut and it doesn’t end up in Amy Jones’ gloves. Another tough chance – they always are when a batter is cutting deep in the crease, but we’re conditioned to Jones making those look easy. Five runs off Ecclestone without losing a wicket is a great result given what she normally does to teams in the middle overs. Wolvaardt is up for this.
6th over: South Africa 37-1 (Wolvaardt 22, Bosch 1) Shoooot! Laura Wolvaardt made her name at this level during the 2017 World Cup in England as a teenager when she played some of the best drives of the competition. Well, here’s another of those through extra cover, threading Smith through the ring for the shot of the night so far. She retains the strike with a single down the ground – six runs and the wicket off the over. All told, the Proteas would be happy with where they are placed as the field drops back.
WICKET! Brits c Gibson b Smith 13 (19). South Africa 31-1
To start the new over Brits dances at Smith with the clear intention of launching her over deep midwicket but picks out Gibson instead, coming in off that rope. Nice take.
5th over: South Africa 31-0 (Wolvaardt 17, Brits 13) That’s a dropped catch from Sarah Glenn at short fine leg, Britts shoveling a sweep off the shoulder of the bat. The fielder did well to get to the contest diving forward but wasn’t able to keep it off the turf – that’s the second half-chance England have had from the opener. Later in the over at Wolvaardt, Dean pushes past her outside edge with extra pace, just missing the off-stump. To finish the over, the South African skipper gives the spinner her stumps when backing away to leg and has enough elevation to clear point for a couple.
4th over: South Africa 28-0 (Wolvaardt 15, Brits 12) Sciver-Brunt returns and the pace is to the delight of Wolvaardt, who muscles a pull shot through midwicket for four. This is turning into a very good start for the Proteas, four singles here on top of the boundary.
3rd over: South Africa 20-0 (Wolvaardt 9, Brits 10) Charlie Dean’s turn. Aside from Sciver-Brunt it’ll be all spin tonight, with Dean the off spin option for Heather Knight. Super accurate and able to alter her pace from ball to ball, she’s going to be a handful on these surfaces. Three dots are followed by a cut for a couple by Brits. That shot prompts an overcorrection, too straight to finish and swept behind square for four. Six from the over doesn’t feel like loads but every run-a-ball over is a win on these slow pitches.
2nd over: South Africa 14-0 (Wolvaardt 9, Brits 4) The call to prayer goes out as the sun starts to set in Sharjah. Over number two will be Linsey Smith. England’s left-arm spinner was great against Bangladesh, especially early. But Wolvaardt makes room first ball, enough to crunch her through cover for four – top shot. Smith finds her range soon enough. As Lydia Greenway notes on telly, Smith’s story is an important one, forcing her way back into this side in her late 20s after spending the last five years in the wilderness after initially playing at the T20 World Cup back in 2018. It speaks volumes about how strong the England domestic system has become that she’s had the chance to bounce back into the side at this stage of her career, now at the peak of her powers. She sneaks past Brits’ inside edge later in the over, prompting a leg before shout, but it’s sliding past the leg stump and they elect not to review. Eight from the over.
1st over: South Africa 6-0 (Wolvaardt 4, Brits 1) Lovely shot first ball of the match, Wolvaardt using what pace there is to steer behind point for three; complete control. Ooh, dropped catch next up with Knight, back at first slip with Jones up to the stumps, unable to drag it in moving to her right. Not an easy chance; Brits gets a life right away. NSB misses down the legside but then gets back on target soon enough, so much so that Brits is nearly bowled shouldering arms! An eventful first over comes to an end.
Nat Sciver-Brunt has the new ball. England’s one seamer. She’s up against Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits with Amy Jones up to the stumps right away. PLAY!
Here come the players. Out to the middle for the national anthems, set to the ICC anthem, which is now a thing – seriously. South Africa’s anthem has to be right at the top of the tree from those used by international cricket teams – certainly those that make it to World Cups on a regular basis. They’re belting it out. The Proteas have been so close in these global tournaments over the last few years. If they can get up here, and set up a semi-final against Anyone But Australia, they’ll be in great shape once again.
The scores in the first innings at Sharjah so far in this comp: 119-7, 116, 93-7, 118-7.
With that framing, we go out to the pitch report with Nat Germanos. She tells us that it is 36 degrees outside and that they’re using a strip that makes one boundary a fraction shorter square of the wicket. Lisa Sthlaker reinforces that it’ll be spin to win out there.
England: Maia Bouchier, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight (c), Alice Capsey, Amy Jones (wk), Danielle Gibson, Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Linsey Smith.
South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, Anneke Bosch, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Sinolo Jafta (wk), Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayabonga Khaka.
South Africa have won the toss and have elected to bat
Runs on the board and all that. Heather Knight says she would’ve batted first too had she won the toss. Laura Wolvaardt is asked what she wants her team to improve upon. “Everything.” There you go. Of greater interest, both teams are unchanged.
Preamble
Adam Collins
Good afternoon. Welcome to some Group B action from the T20 Women’s World Cup in the UAE. Today we’re down the Sharjah end of the freeway for a fixture that may not necessarily dictate which team advanced from England and South Africa – all things being equal, both should – but as importantly, who avoids Australia in the semi.
For the Proteas, they stitched together the most impressive performance of the tournament so far, putting away the Windies by ten wickets. England, who are the favourites to top the group, were less impressive with the bat but never gave Bangladesh a chance with their four-pronged spin attack making the most of the slow surface. Expect the same today on that front with run-a-ball scores the objective.
We’re not far from the toss – I’ll be back for that, and the teams, at 2:30pm BST with the first ball 3pm. Stay in touch through the game: write me a line or drop me a tweet.