Allrounder Nadine de Klerk was the hero again as she slammed the Proteas Women to a nail-biting three-wicket win over Bangladesh in their World Cup clash at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Monday.
De Klerk followed up her heroics against India a few days ago with another key hand as she hammered an unbeaten 37 off 29 balls (4x4; 1x6), finishing the match in style again with a six, with just three balls remaining.
It was a terrific fightback from the Proteas. After being set 233 to win, they found themselves in all sorts of trouble on 78 for five, only for Chloe Tryon, 62 off 69 (6x4; 1x6), and Marizanne Kapp, 56 off 71 (4x4; 1x6), to drag them back into the contest with an 85-run sixth wicket partnership.
However both fell in the closing overs, leaving Masabata Klaas (10no) to importantly stick in with De Klerk in a match-winning, unbeaten 37-run stand to get them over the line.
“The nerves are shot. That was a lot closer than we would have liked, but I am glad we got the points in the end,” admitted a relieved-looking Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt after the match.
“We tried to stay as patient as we could (in Bangladesh’s innings). We thought the slower bowlers were working quite well, so we tried to bowl the slowest bowlers that we had and really tried to stay patient and not leave the stumps.
“Kappie and Chloe were absolutely amazing (in the chase). It wasn’t the start that we would have wanted, lost wickets early, but that partnership got us back into the game and Nadine finished it again at the end there.”
Earlier, the Proteas' chase got off to a disastrous start as opener Tazmin Brits fell for a second straight duck, chipping her first ball straight back to bowler Nahida Akter at the start of the second over, with the score 3 for one.
Wolvaardt (31) and Anneke Bosch (28) then combined for a solid 55-run second wicket stand to get them up and running.
But a poor mix-up between the batters saw Wolvaardt run out at the end of the 15th over, which sparked a collapse of four wickets for 20 runs, as Bosch, Annerie Dercksen (2) and Sinalo Jafta (4) all followed in quick succession, as they tumbled to 78 for five at the start of the 23rd over.
That brought Tryon in to join Kapp, and they set about rebuilding the innings and setting up the platform for them to fire from down the back straight.
It was good stuff from the two senior players, as they eased their side past 100 and to 150 after 39 overs, although at that stage Bangladesh had dried up the boundaries and put the pressure back on the South Africans.
Kapp finally released the shackles in the 40th over, launching a full toss from Shorna Akter off the first ball for six to reach her 50 in style, and with 11 coming off it, but she fell in the next over, mistiming Nahida Akter to Shorna Akter at long off, leaving the South Africans on 163 for six.
The 44th over proved to be a vital one, as Tryon smashed the first ball from Rebeya Khan straight to sub fielder Sumaiaa Akter at deep midwicket, only for her to drop the ball for four, which also brought up her fifty, followed by Tryon cracking the next ball for six, and a four a few balls later as 16 came off the over.
Tryon was, however, run out in the 45th over, which piled the pressure back on the Proteas, but De Klerk and Klaas held their nerve, aided by Shorna Akter dropping De Klerk in the 49th over, which proved hugely costly in the end.
LATE ASSAULT FROM AKTER
At the start of the match, Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat, before reaching a defendable 232 for six in their 50 overs thanks to a brilliant late assault from Shorna Akter.
Akter slammed the quickest half-century by a Bangladesh player, hammering three sixes and three fours on her way to an unbeaten 51 off 35 balls, while 50 off 77 (6x4) from Sharmin Akhter, and a quickfire unbeaten 19 off eight (3x4) from Ritu Moni, also helped them to the decent total.
The Proteas bowlers and fielders will be disappointed with their finish to the innings, after Bangladesh were only able to score 73 runs over the first 25 overs, but crashed 82 off the final 10, which set them a much stiffer target than they would have expected after 40 overs.
The Bangladesh innings got off to a slow start as openers Fargana Hoque (30) and Rubya Haider (25) combined for a 53-run opening stand off 16.1 overs, before spinner Tryon made the breakthrough, as Haider miscued her to De Klerk at mid on.
That brought Akhter in, and she added 20 runs with Hoque, before the opener was pinned LBW by Nonkululeko Mlaba, leaving them on 73 for two exactly halfway through the innings.
Captain Nigar Sultana, 32 off 42 (5x4) and Akhter then combined for an important 77-run third-wicket partnership at a decent rate, to set the platform for their late-innings flourish.
They took their side past the hundred-run mark and to 150, before Sultana tried to hit Mlaba past Wolvaardt at cover, but the Proteas captain superbly snatched the ball out of the air.
The final 10 overs were then the Shorna Akter show, as she launched the Proteas all around the park, and despite a few wickets falling, a fantastic flurry in the last three overs, along with Moni, saw 37 come off them.
For the Proteas bowlers, Mlaba was again the pick of the lot, picking up 2-42 in her 10 overs, while Tryon, 1-41, and De Klerk, 1-39, also snagged a scalp each.
SOUTH AFRICA: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Tazmin Brits, Anneke Bosch, Annerie Dercksen, Marizanne Kapp, Sinalo Jafta, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Masabata Klass, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune
BANGLADESH: Rubya Haider, Farzana Haque, Sharmin Akhter, Nigar Sultana (capt, wk), Sobhana Mostary, Shorna Akter, Fahima Khatun, Nahida Akter, Rabeya Khan, Ritu Moni, Marufa Akter
