After playing themselves into a winning position, the South African women lost eight wickets for 28 runs at Wantage Road to concede the second T20I and the series.

England won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. Captain Charlotte Edwards and her opening partner Lauren Winfield set a solid foundation in the powerplay, before Dane van Niekerk dismissed the latter in the seventh over for a 20-ball 22.

The rest of the batsmen chipped in with scores in the teens as they supported Edwards. The skipper seemed to be playing on a different wicket to everybody else and finished with an unbeaten 75 off just 61 deliveries.

The hosts would have hoped for greater acceleration at the death, after being 98-2 with five overs remaining. The South Africans bowled with good discipline, though, restricting England’s boundary count to 20 fours and no sixes in the innings. Edwards steered her side to 141-3, a score the professional home outfit would fancy themselves to defend.

South Africa’s chase got off to the perfect start, reaching 46-1 at the end of the powerplay. They were two runs ahead of England at the same stage and would have believed that an upset was on the cards.

The top order took the visitors to 71-3 in the 13th over, before the inexperienced batting lineup started to crumble. England smelt blood and ruthlessly ripped through the final eight wickets to dismiss South Africa for 99. Van Niekerk, Mignon du Preez and Marizanne Kapp were the only players to reach double figures in the innings.

Jenny Gunn was the chief destroyer, boasting figures of 3-13 in her three overs. The blitz of wickets resulted in South Africa falling 43 runs short of their target, which gave England an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.

The final match in the series will take place on Sunday, 7 September. The South Africans will then play Ireland in another three-match T20I series.

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