South Africa v England – Third ODI
When Jon Lewis retires from the game, he’ll be setting up a psychology support service.
Look how brilliantly he has overseen England’s 3-0 demolition of the Proteas in the T20 series. It was a narrow 4-wicket win at East London, a sweeping victory at Benoni, then today…
Here at Centurion, he made subtle changes to the XI, and they repaid him fully. He played an unlikely hand, reintroducing both his Laurens, Bell and Filer, to open the attack. He’d read the pitch and their psychologies perfectly; neither had been in touch till now. They took three wickets between them, and, perhaps more pertinently, bowled a combined 27 dot-balls.
Between them they accounted for Faye Tunnicliffe and Anneke Bosch in eight balls (2-3). Yes, Laura Wolvaardt didn’t open the innings; she’d been laid up with an illness. In their present state that was the last misfortune her side needed. Chloe Tryon took charge.
If you’d gone home then, you might possibly have been in for a surprise checking the result, but England were to dominate proceedings from there on .
Today it was Charlie Dean who claimed the bowling honours with 3-26. She had no competition from Sarah Glenn, since it was the leg-spinner who had to forfeit her place to allow the luxury of two fast bowlers in one team.
For the Proteas Nondumiso Shangase took the honours; she scored 31 to become the top scorer, but her side never looked capable of regaining the intiative. She was dismissed by another piece of Amy Jones’ wizardry behind the sticks. A swipe found the inside edge of the bat, then a pad, but Jones was still able to remove a bail a millisecond before her bat came to earth again. So said the review.
The Reply
Lewis showed his wisdom again by retaining his top order, despite their earlier fragilty. They repaid the compliment with a devastating display of power-hitting.
The one wicket to fall was Maia Bouchier’s, and that only thanks to an excellent catch by Shangase.
Bouchier had clattered Ayanda Hlubi for two consecutive fours, but as she attempted a third, Shangase retreated at mid-on and clung on to a stunner above her head. Sadly for the Proteas, this was only the sixth over; Bouchier had already struck 35 off 21 balls (5 fours, 1 six), and the total was 56.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge continued on her merry way, allowed many chances to indulge in her favourite hits over the off-side field. More concerning for English eyes was how Sophia Dunkley would fare. It proved to be third time lucky, as she stayed the course with a string of brave and mostly clean shots.
She was there at the end, having hit 24 off 17, with three fours. DWH had time to reach her 50 before the premature close (53*/31, including ten 4s a one 6).
It was almost inevitable that the fielding side wilted under the onslaught; chances were missed, and fielding grew despondent. England had a vast 8.3 overs left unclaimed.
Result:
South Africa: 126
England: 128-1 (11.3 overs)
Player of the Match: Charlie Dean
England win the series 3-0
