England vs South Africa: LIVE Women’s T20 World Cup result and reaction after Heather Knight’s side secure victory
England beat South Africa in their second Women’s T20 World Cup group game in Sharjah
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England took another step towards the semi-finals at the Women’s T20 World Cup with a strong win over South Africa.
After an opening win over Bangladesh on a slow surface, England’s spin quartet again made good use of a turning pitch in Sharjah as they strangled the South Africa batters. Sophie Ecclestone led the way with figures of 2/15 with Linsey Smith, Charlie Dean and Sarah Glenn once more impressing in support roles, limiting South Africa to 124/6 despite late hitting from Marizanne Kapp and Annerie Dercksen.
It never looked likely to be enough, despite a sluggish outfield, and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (43) ensured a solid platform was laid, eschewing her more expansive strokeplay to manage the chase well. The star turn with the bat came, though, fron Nat Sciver-Brunt, cruising to an unbeaten 48 to guide her side home to a second win from two games. England top Group B with games against Scotland and the West Indies to come.
Re-live all of the action from Sharjah in the blog below:
England captain Heather Knight reacts to a ‘controlled’ victory
“I’m really pleased. That was a really controlled win. The pitch was slightly better than the other day, but we controlled that chase brilliantly. Nat had a cool, calm head, and Danni as well - that partnership was outstanding to watch.
“The girls bowled outstandingly again. Sophie was back to her best, and she seemed to get a little bounce on that wicket, which was strange - she is the only one out who does out there.
“You could see Danni getting frustrated out there - she’s not used to scoring at a strike rate of 100. But she did it brilliantly, that was a proper partnership. The way they ran between the wickets, it was a proper job. We don’t play until Sunday, so it’s quite a good break, time to get away and explore Dubai. A few are going out on the golf course tomorrow...”
And here’s beaten skipper Laura Wolvaardt
“Obviously we are very disappointed,” the South Africa captain says. “10-20 more runs with the bat and it could have been interesting, and we didn’t take our chances in the field, either.
“I didn’t feel it was as slow as the first couple of games here. We were talking about reaching the 140 mark, but we had that period after the powerplay where we lost our way a bit. The next two are must win games for us.”
Sophie Ecclestone is the player of the match
And tells Sky Sports: “It’s quite exciting to keep breaking records. I keep it simple and try to enjoy my cricket, make sure I’ve got a smile on my face.
“It’s always great to go against the world’s best. Getting [Laura Wolvaardt] and [Marizanne Kapp] out were important wickets, so I was quite happy with that.
“We’ve got four spinners in the team and we are all high-class players, we work as a unit. I’m lucky to be alongside them. Obviously conditions are so different out here, so we’ve adapted really well.”
England beat South Africa by seven wickets
Very, very impressive from Nat Sciver-Brunt, guiding England home with an unbeaten 48 and looking a class apart on a sluggish pitch. England take another significant step towards a semi-final place.
England win by seven wickets!
Khaka will bowl the final over, four runs needed from just six deliveries.
The first is a dot, four needed from five.
Sciver-Brunt goes over extra cover to finish it for England and claim the victory!
They do so with four balls to spare.
England 121-3 (19) Sciver-Brunt 44, Knight 0, De Klerk 1-23 (4)
11 needed from two overs and Heather Knight will hope to see them through, alongside Sciver-Brunt.
Sciver-Brunt capitalises on fine leg being in the ring and tucks the ball away for a boundary along the deck.
Sciver-Brunt fetches one from a long way outside the off stump and paddles to leg for a single.
Four runs are needed from the final over.
Wicket! Wyatt-Hodge out for 43! England 114-3 (18) Sciver-Brunt 38, Mlaba 1-22 (4)
Mlaba will bowl her last over. She starts too straight but it only brings a single.
A full toss and Wyatt-Hodge send it into the offside, the ball goes straight through the fielder and brings England a very welcome boundary.
Wyatt-Hodge has gone! Mlaba tosses the ball up and Wyatt-Hodge comes down the wicket and is stumped!
England 107-2 (17) Wyatt-Hodge 38, Sciver-Brunt 36, De Klerk 1-17 (3)
De Klerk comes back on and almost has a breakthrough! Wyatt-Hodge hits it high and straight through the hands of the jumping fielder on the edge of the ring on the off side.
Wolvaardt did get her fingertips to the ball but couldn’t hold on. Sciver-Brunt then sweeps the ball away for four, and every run above a run a ball just eases the pressure on these two out there.
Six runs from the over, exactly the required rate.
England 101-2 (16) Wyatt-Hodge 37, Sciver-Brunt 31, Mlaba 0-15 (3)
Mlaba bowls a full toss that Wyatt-Hodge hits high and short of the fielder, the batters come back for two, and that takes the required run rate to six an over from the last 4.5.
England move past 100, the partnership is up past 50 and they need 24 runs from 24 balls.
England 94-2 (15) Wyatt-Hodge 33, Sciver-Brunt 28, Kapp 1-17 (4)
Kapp returns for her final over, this might just be one for England to navigate without losing another wicket rather than trying to capitalise on.
Sciver-Brunt sweeps her to the boundary with power and that will help England as they inch towards the required total.
Sciver-Brunt times another one to the leg side boundary, that has been hit expertly.
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