Wyatt-Hodge and Sciver-Brunt star as England rout SA in T20 World Cup clash

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Nat Sciver-Brunt played brilliant knocks as England defeated South Africa by seven wickets with four balls remaining in their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup match in Sharjah.

After restricting South Africa to 124/6, England achieved the target for the loss of just three wickets to register their second consecutive win in the tournament.

England were sublime in their chase as they did not slow down despite losing the first wicket with just 16 runs on the board. Maia Bouchier was trapped by Kapp in front of the wickets as South Africa did try to make some inroads through their bowlers.

Much to the dismay of South Africa, Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Alice Capsey took the charge in their hands. They kept on ticking the scoreboard with singles and doubles, hitting occasional boundaries to keep the required run rate under control.

Both the players batted sensibly and played grounded shots to keep the wickets in hands. Their game plan was simple to take the match as deep as possible before flexing the muscles.

Wyatt-Hodge and Capsey shared a 36-rns stand for the second wicket and took the score to 50 before the latter was caught by Klerk off her bowling, bringing some respite to the South African camp. Caspey was the more brutal of the two as she hit three boundaries during her stint at the crease.

South African bowlers were struggling to take the wickets and mount pressure on England batters who were cruising along slowly but steady.

Wyatt-Hodge and Nat Sciver-Brunt knuckled down to take the innings forward. They added another 64 runs for the third wicket to all but end South Africa’s hopes of a come-from-behind victory.

Wyatt-Hodge’s watchful innings and Sciver-Brunt’s aggression kept South African bowlers at bay. Both the batters maintained the momentum throughout.

They brought the equation down to 11 needed off 12 deliveries before Wyatt-Hodge was dodged by Nonkululeko Mlaba to rekindle hope in the Proteas dressing room.

But Sciver-Brunt smashed two boundaries in penultimate and the last over respectively to take England over the line as she remained unbeaten on 48.

What hurt South Africa the most was perhaps they failed to read the pitch. They played with three pacers and two specialist spinners on a turf which is renowned to help slow bowlers.

On the other hand, 16 overs of England were bowled by spinners. Linsey Smith, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn bowled  four overs each and shared five wickets among them, one was run out. The only pacer in the England squad was Nat Sciver-Brunt, who went wicketless and conceded maximum runs, 34 to be precise.

Earlier, opener Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits gave South Africa a sound start. Both the openers played sensibly and added 31 runs for the first wicket.

They laid down a strong foundation to help South Africa post a big total. Both the opener started off slowly and then paced their innings beautifully.

England bowlers were struggling to break the opening partnership, which was turning dangerous with every run. But the South African openers were playing resolutely and did not give them any chance.

It was in the sixth over, England got the success when Linsey Smith had Tazmin caught by Gibson. The dismissal of Tazmin brought some relief to the England camp.

England's happiness was short-lived as the next partnership between Anneke Bosch and Wolvaardt turned out to be more lethal. Both the batters capitalised on the excellent start and added another 40 runs for the second wicket.

They took the score to 71 in 13 overs before Glenn uprooted the stumps of Bosch to give England a much-needed breakthrough. But the dismissal of Bosch opened the floodgates for England blowers as they made a brilliant comeback. After that South Africa kept on losing the wickets on regular intervals.

Sophie Eccleston got rid of Wolvaardt as she rattled the stumps of the South African captain to make it 88/3. She scored a brilliant 42 off 39 deliveries with the help of three boundaries.

 Marizanne Kapp was looking in devastating form as she blew away the England attack but she did not get support from the other end.

Kapp played a quick-fire cameo of 17-ball 26 runs as she smacked three fours during her stint at the crease. Her knock was studded with three hits to the boundary. But South Africa’s knack of welting under pressure was once again evident.

Chole Tyron was clean bowled by Charlie Dean before Eccleston made Kapp her second victim. Kapp charged down the track to hit her but Eccleston changed the length of the ball. Kapp was nowhere near to the pitch of the delivery, which went on to dislodge her bails.

After the dismissal of Eccleston, Annerie Dercksen took the charge in her hands and started cutting loose. She smacked a blitzkrieg 20 off 11 deliveries but did not get support from the other end. South African innings was folded for 124/6, a score which was way below what it was poised to be in the beginning of the innings. The Dercksen innings featured two boundaries.