England secured another series win against the Proteas Women following a six-wicket victory in a rain-affected final One-Day International at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.
England backed up their 3-0 win in the T20 series with a 2-1 ODI triumph to remain unbeaten against South Africa in a bilateral series.
The series was on the line, tied at 1-1, and an opportunity to beat the former world champions for the first time ever presented itself for the Proteas following their six-wicket win in the first match.
England’s reply was delayed due to bad weather, and they had a revised Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method target of 152 off 23 overs, after the South Africans had posted 233/8 in 50 overs.
Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones combined for a match-winning partnership of 90 off just 66 balls, and they helped the visitors cruise to their target with 24 balls to spare.
Tambo! 🔥
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 11, 2024
Lovely stuff. pic.twitter.com/C4r02GHQwu
Beaumont led the visitors’ fight-back with her 22nd career half-century after Marizanne Kapp (3/24) picked up three wickets in quick time.
The home side rang the changes heading into the crunch encounter, and they had as many as four to the side that was convincingly beaten by six wickets in the second ODI.
England were thrown a curve-ball when seam bowler Kate Cross pulled out with a back spasm issue, having just bowled five balls.
Heather Knight had an unexpected task to find a bowler to help close the gap left open by Cross.
But South Africa made their job a little easier by once again losing a cluster of wickets in the middle period and failing to rotate the strike regularly.
Wolvaardt – who is now the leading batter in the latest Women’s ODI rankings – returned to the ground where she made her career-best score of 184 the last time out against Sri Lanka earlier this year.
She looked well set to secure yet another big score before she was trapped lbw by Sophie Ecclestone after scoring what was her 34th career ODI half-century.
It's vintage Laura Wolvaardt in Potch 🤩⭐
📺 Stream #SAvENG on DStv: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw#HereForHer pic.twitter.com/AID0EvTXzu
Kapp (38), Chloe Tryon (20) and a large part of South Africa’s batting line-up had starts, but none could convert outside of the elegant skipper.
The fall of Kapp was timely for England, as her partnership of 42 with Tryon was beginning to take shape heading towards the last 10 overs.
South Africa got into more trouble soon after, and it took only eight balls for Tryon to stir the pot and dive right in as she was outfoxed by Ecclestone, dismissed stumped by Jones when she was well set to see her team through to the end.
It was a key moment in the match as the Proteas’ innings still had 10 overs to go without any recognised batter.
A handy final stand of 32 between Nonkululeko Mlaba (16 not out) and Mieke de Ridder (19*) not only ensured South Africa played out their full quota of overs, but steered them to a defendable score of 233/8 – but it wasn’t enough at the end.
🟢🟡Match Result
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) December 11, 2024
The rain-impacted final ODI match comes to a close.
🏴England win by 6 wickets (DLS)
They take the 3-match WODI series 2-1🏆#AlwaysRising #WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #SAvENG pic.twitter.com/Ib5z8zGWcu
Brief Scores
South Africa 233/8 off 50 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 61 off 68 balls, 9x4, Marizanne Kapp 38 off 54, 4x4; Sophie Ecclestone 2/26)
England (target: 153 off 23 overs) 153/4 off 19 overs (Tammy Beaumont 65 off 46, 10x4, Amy Jones 49 off 36, 6x4; Marizanne Kapp 3/24)