The Proteas Women finished up their World Cup preparations with a comfortable six-wicket victory over West Indies Women.
Finally some good news for South African cricket. While it’s only a warm-up match, it does give the side a bit of momentum and confidence going into their World Cup opener against Pakistan on Sunday, as they outplayed the 2013 World Cup finalists and defending World T20 champions.
After suffering another defeat to tournament favourites and defending champions Australia Women on Tuesday by 103 runs, a solid outing was needed to finish off the warm-ups. They will be disappointed with the way things ended, as they were on course for a 10-wicket victory before they lost four wickets chasing down the last 13 runs required.
It was a superb display from the bowlers, who fought back in devastating fashion after Hayley Matthews and Felicia Walters built up a 35-run stand after 11 overs. The final 10 wickets then fell for 28 runs.
Moseline Daniels (1-13) took the first wicket, but most of the damage was done by Masabata Klaas, who took the next three wickets in a two-over blitz, including that of dangerous all-rounder Deandra Dottin for six. She finished with figures of 4-14 from 4.5 overs.
Two run-outs followed, which allowed Chloe Tryon (1-2) and Sune Luus (1-1) to clean up the rest for 63.
Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt were determined to spend some quality time at the crease, as they edged their way to a 45-run stand off 12.3 overs. The victory was inevitable, but the collapse was frustrating, as Wolvaardt fell for 26 off 41 balls, sparking the loss of four wickets for just 11 runs.
Lee was bowled for 18 the next over, followed by Trisha Chetty for five and Tryon for a duck, as Anisa Mohammed finished with figures of 2-2.
Mignon du Preez (8) and Andrie Steyn (1) peeled off the remaining runs to win by six wickets with 31 overs to spare.
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