Well, what a breakfast thriller! Brilliant from South Africa, who have now won their first three games - with England their biggest scalp. England have failed to move from square one of the limited-edition World Cup board, despite three close games falling within their grasp.
There were bonuses for Engaland today - the batting of Jones and Beaumont and the embroidery-perfect bowling of Ecclestone (again). The fielding, though, still seems to be choreographed by PT Barnum. For South Africa, player of the match Kapp was brilliant with ball (5-45) and bat, and Laura Wolvaardt superb with her second consecutive fifty - though she was dropped twice.
#CWC22
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) March 14, 2022
"Technically you won't get much better than that. Watch this at home. This is just about perfect. Bend your front knee, top elbow, that is perfection for an off drive": Nasser Hussain
Laura Wolvaardt. ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/c6bFXI3vZ0
There was a last-over banger in Hamilton too, where Bangladesh recorded their first World Cup win - against Pakistan.
That’s it from me, thanks for tuning in. England, the current World Cup champions, now have to win all their remaining games and then rely on others in order to qualify - their next game, against India, starts in the early hours of Wednesday morning GMT. South Africa play New Zealand at the same time on Thursday.
Have a lovely day.
February 2020: South Africa beat England for the first time at a Women's T20 World Cup
— Annesha Ghosh (@ghosh_annesha) March 14, 2022
March 2022: South Africa beat England for the first time at a Women's ODI World Cup since 2000
Quite the way for #TeamSouthAfrica to avenge their loss vs #TeamEngland in the 2017 ODI WC semis
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The player of the match is Marizanne Kapp for her bounteous bowling and clear-headed batting at the end. She drops to her knees in prayer on the field. More knee-sinking for England, but in despair rather than in thanks as their campaign bus continues to lose cogs and springs and even the front wheel. Three catches were dropped, a stumping missed, Sciver and Brunt all out of sorts.
“We’re pretty gutted by the situation,” says a solemn-faced Knight. “Its not out of lack of effort. I would have liked 15 or 20 more, they bowled pretty well at the death though Amy and Tammy batted brilliantly.
“We’ve got no other option we’ve obviously got to win that game (against India) and win that well. It’s not through lack of effort, things just havent’ gone our way.”
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