Coetzenburg Oval, Stellenbosch, 6 February
After a series of warm-ups games in the Under 19 World Cup that skimmed neatly under the radar, the full-blast tournament has started with a similar run-in. Only now, games follow in a positive torrent of activity. Five matches are played today on a variety of grounds; five more to follow on Wednesday.
How things went for England
Sophia Dunkley plays as if she fears she’s on the point of being dropped from the team. Her scoring-rate after three overs is 315! (5×4, 2×6). Her 50 comes up in 3.3 overs. Oh me!
Marizanne Kapp, one of the world’s foremost bowlers, manages one dot ball in her opening over.
Ayabonga Khaka and Nadine de Klerk, replacing the openers, go for a combined 42 off their two.
Danni Wyatt has spent much of her time leaning on her bat, admiring.
Shabnim Ismael’s return does the trick. Dunkley plays across a straight ball and pays the price (59 off 19 at 310!). a 1st-wicket stand of 68.
The youngster Alice Capsey, comes in at No 3. She begins cautiously, no need for haste with an SR of 13. Then suddenly two consecutive fours show why she’s there.
England have reached 79-1 in the powerplay.
Chloe Tryon’s first ball Is a full-toss; Wyatt records her first six. The 100 is raised in 7.5 overs.
De Klerk returns to bowl Wyatt for 24. The second wicket has added 38 in under 4 overs. Two wickets, both clean bowled, hitting across the line. A lesson?
Halfway through and England are 132-2. It will be fascinating now to see how they deal with the second half. All-out aggression or something a shade calmer?
Ah! Capsey lobs the new bowler, Annerie Dercksen, over the edge for six, then a second six. That was a silly question.
The 150 comes up in the 12th over. Capsey passes 50 off 28 balls. What a start at the top level!
Two consecutive balls are noteworthy: Capsey is dropped on the boundary, 4 runs; next she edges Ismail to Kapp and is out for 61 off 33 deliveries (6×4, 3×6). Quite a debut.
Sciver-Brunt restores momentum with a six.
The captain, coming in at No 5, has a different trick: she misses the ball but causes a 5-run wide. Experience tells.
No sooner has S-B reached 50 off 24 balls than she goes, caught behind square by Brits off Kapp (4×4, 4×6).
England’s top four have amassed 195 runs.
Now comes the clatter of wickets all too familiar in this form of the game (3 wickets, 0 runs), but Maia Bouchier does her stuff with a remarkable 19* off 7 balls
England finish with 246-7.
The Reply
Lauren Bell starts well enough, going for just 2 runs, but at the other end Kate Cross can’t find line or length. She bowls a no-ball, then is hit for four fours in the over.
We can’t tell what the tactics originally were. Kapp gave each of her first four bowlers one over only; they were under intense pressure. Knight allows Bell back for a second, but it’s Charlie Dean, the off-spinner, who breaks through, bowling the dangerous Laura Wolvaardt for 17. Even better, Sarah Glenn rewards her captain for introducing her early by taking Kapp’s wicket first ball; a real strangle down the leg-side, smartly taken by Amy Jones.
In the tournament proper, we’re much less likely to see this sort of courage from a captain; only two fielders allowed outside the inner ring, and batters hungrily surveying the wide open spaces. But since England’s quicker bowlers haven’t proved they can bowl line and length at the start, Knight may persist in this tactic.
At halfway the Proteas reach 112-3, as Tazmin Brits and Chloe Tryon get their side back on track.
Decent enough, but they need 135 off 60 balls.
Tryon reaches 50 off 20 balls with a six. A worry for England: Nat S-B’s bowling is all over the place. Her second over contains a no-ball, two wides and a six. Then the oldest and the youngest of the team are hit for 37 off their two overs.
When in trouble, call for Dean. She has Tryon caught by Cross for 65/23! The moment the 150 comes up Glenn has her second, bowling the other big danger, Brits for 36.
This is where depth of batting counts. Glenn takes her third wicket, clean bowling Annerie Dercksen for a duck. Suddenly the Proteas are 157-6.
Dean’s last over proves costly, 17 runs; but she has taken three vital early wickets (3-46).
Bell is rewarded with a first wicket on her return, but in the next over Cross suffers even worse than at the start, going for three 4s in succession, then a wide.
Knight turns to NS-B, in the hope that she can return to her usual form. She goes for 12 runs, including a six from De Klerk, who is making a big statement (45/25).
Knight is happy to let Bell complete her four overs. She gets an immediate reward, Ismail caught by Ecclestone (who – note well – hasn’t bowled).
In the last over De Klerk reaches a merited 50 of 27 balls, but it’s too late. Off the last ball of the innings Bell claims her third, clean bowling Khaka for 5.
So very neatly three bowlers have each taken three wickets, the pick of them Sarah Glenn with 4-0-30-3.
But the England management must be concerned that their three senior bowlers on display today have gone for a combined 100 runs off their seven overs.
There will be plenty to pick over before the real show gets under way. It was disturbing to find the Proteas scoring at such a rate towards the close. Well done, them!
A winning margin of 17 runs after such a blazing perfomance with the bat seems a poor reward.
Perhaps that is what warm-up matches are for.
Scores:
England 246-7
South Africa 229-9
England win by 17 runs
Note
We can’t tell what effect recent events have had on Springbok morale, but only 12 names were posted for this match, not the 15 they were allowed.
