Mount Maunganui, [New Zealand], March 14 (ANI): South Africa all-rounder Marizanne Kapp expressed happiness after her five-wicket haul helped her side in defeating England by three wickets in the ongoing ICC Women’s 50-over World Cup here at the Bay Oval on Monday.
Kapp was the star with the ball for South Africa with a maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs. She led the bowling attack in the absence of Shabnim Ismail, who had to go off the field after bowling only five overs.
“Just so relieved to contribute. This was a big game for us, we knew we had to rock up today and I am so glad we did. I just backed myself, I remember what they did to us in the semifinal of the previous World Cup and I knew I had to have better plans this time around,” said Kapp after the game.
“Been working on a few things and luckily today it came off. That’s what has been brilliant tonight, we still haven’t played our best cricket especially with the bat and we managed to scrape the runs and walk away with the win. We miss her (Dane van Niekerk) a lot, so much harder without her, this is probably for her,” she added.
Chasing 236, South Africa openers struggled at the start as they lost their first wicket in the 5th over after Lizelle Lee was dismissed by Anya Shrubsole, with the team’s total at 18/1. Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits then steadied the ship with a 56-run stand for the second wicket. They mixed caution with aggression perfectly to ensure more wickets did not fall.
After losing two wickets skipper Sune Luss came to the crease and took her team’s total to 147 but she was dismissed by Charlotte Dean at 36 runs. Later, Mignon du Preez joined Wolvaardt and tried to anchor the innings.
England got the much-needed breakthrough in 35th over as Kate Cross dismissed Wolvaardt who played a knock of 77 runs.
Sophie Ecclestone comes back into the attack and provides another breakthrough for England as she dismissed Mignon du Preez at 8 runs. Going into the final five overs, South Africa needed 31 with four wickets in hand.
Later Marizanne Kapp (32) was dismissed by Anya Shrubsole. Trisha Chetty alongside Shabnim Ismail took South Africa to their win in the last over thriller and remained unbeaten in the tournament. (ANI)
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Source: The Print
