South Africa has upset Australia for the second time in as many weeks, with five missed catches and a dismal batting slump costing the hosts during a rain-soaked one-day match. Marizanne Kapp excelled with bat and ball in the Proteas’ maiden ODI victory against Australia, four days after an elbow injury caused her to retire hurt in the series opener.
Australia won the toss and chose to bowl first to build early pressure on the Proteas as the opening duo of Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt collapsed in the first over only with the latter’s wicket on the third ball put the visitors in a choking situation. Anneke Bosch was fresh on the crease and tried to push two balls hard enough to collect a couple of boundaries in the fifth and sixth over, and around three more to put the scoreboard at 32 at the end of the batting powerplay.
With this, Brits got some confidence to start striking off the weaker deliveries from the 11th over and just when the run rate was gaining some mass, she got succumbed to Annabel Sutherland’s third delivery in the 13th over at 21 off 41 balls. On the other end, Bosch continued her form and came up with the first maximum of the fixture in the 15th over.
And there was Bosch seen collapsing on the fifth ball of the 16th over at a wonderful knock of 44 off 46 and Ashleigh Gardner getting her side the breakthrough. With Bosch’s wicket, the momentum got disrupted to some extent, but Marizanne Kapp and Sune Luus of South Africa team managed smartly with timely boundaries and some running between the wickets till Luus finally had to make way for the pavilion in the 26th over at a score of 19 off 33.
Mooney takes a beauty! 🥰
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 7, 2024
Another dream start for Australia! #PlayOfTheDay | @hcltech | #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/3cKVemKGGE
This wicket by Gardner was followed by Sutherland’s maiden 27th over but the in-form Kapp kept the momentum tied with two retaliating boundaries in the 28th over and another after a gap of two overs which was filled well by Nadine de Klerk’s two boundaries. But Klerk too gave her wicket away much easily in the 32nd over at just 14 off 19 balls. This although gave some break to the run rate but Kapp managed well to reach her fifty with a four in the 35th over.
Kapp and Chloe Tryon of South Africa were playing it smoothly and steadily with the former coming up on weaker balls and Tryon rotating the strike diligently, but the hard-hitting streak finally came to an end with Kapp’s major fall in the 42nd over after a valiant knock of 75 off 87 balls. Although the wicket was a huge loss to the surging South Africans, Tryon was determined to give the innings and the scoreboard a fruitful look with three boundaries and a six to sum the total up at a defendable 229.
Being a rain-adjusted fixture, the new target for the Aussies was 234. Australian openers Phoebe Litchfield and Alyssa Healy kicked the chase off on a lighter note with just three runs in the first over and starting the second over with a famishing four, but that boundary did know very less about the sudden collapse of the top order with Healy returning at just 4 and Beth Mooney departing for a shocking duck.
It seemed like a trail of a couple of boundaries followed by a couple of wickets was going on in the stadium as Tahlia McGrath hit two fours which was followed by two back-to-back wickets of Phoebe Litchfield and Ellyse Perry in the 7th and 8th over. With the top and middle order back into the pavilion, McGrath tried to pull the innings hard with three fours from her bat but that too couldn’t make any more than Sutherland and Georgia Wareham’s wicket in the 11th and 12th over.
PROTEAS WOMEN LEVEL SERIES 💪
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) February 7, 2024
A perfect win after a perfect performance from the Proteas Women to level matters against Australia in Sydney 🇿🇦🇦🇺
Marizanne Kapp named the Player Of The Match 👏 #WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #AUSWvSAW pic.twitter.com/JwJ79oTWxA
This scene was something that Australia couldn’t even dream of as half of the Australian team was in the dugout within the batting powerplay. And the trail continued as there were two more boundaries by Gardner followed by McGrath and Alana King. Garth and Gardner tried their every way out to push the run rate to release the over-burdened pressure with a couple of boundaries and the first six of the chase in the 20th over.
But the record partnership between the two was stroke down hard by Eliz-mari Marx to nail one more into the coffin which was finally destined by Tryon of South Africa dismissing the last wicket of Australia in the name of Megan Schutt thus summing the Aussie scoreboard at just 149 suffering a loss of 84 runs.
Brief scores: Australia vs South Africa 2nd ODI
South Africa 229/6 in 45 overs (Marizanne Kapp 75, Anneke Bosch 44; Ashleigh Gardner 2-31) beat Australia 149 in 29.3 overs (Kim Garth 42; Marizanne Kapp 3-12, Eliz-mari Marx 2-22, Nadine de Klerk 2-26) by 84 runs (DLS method).
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