England’s senior batters Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight shared a 133-run partnership for the fourth wicket to power the home team to 169/5 in the second ICC Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final against the Proteas at The Oval on Thursday.
The pair came together when the hosts were in deep trouble at 23/3 in the third over after Proteas seam duo Shabnim Ismail (2/31) and Marizanne Kapp (1/16) landed the first punches in this knockout bout.
Ismail removed Amy Jones (2) with the first ball of her spell before Kapp clean bowled the tournament’s top-scorer Dani Wyatt-Hodge (12).
Ismail added a second when she trapped Alice Capsey plumb in front to leave England in deep trouble early on.
But the early strikes were soon nullified with Sciver-Brunt (75 off 47 balls, 11×4, 1×6) and Knight launching an astonishing counter attack.
England skipper Sciver-Brunt had not played since the second match against Ireland in Southampton, and after taking a bit of time to find her rhythm, she exploded with a superb innings.
Knight was the perfect foil as she initially fed Sciver-Brunt the strike before finding the boundary herself.
Sciver-Brunt utilised the sweep and reverse-sweep to good effect, while Knight sat deep in her crease to hit square of the wicket and also straight down the ground.
The partnership was eventually in a potentially game-changing penultimate over from left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba.
“Lefty” had Sciver-Brunt caught in the deep by Tazmin Brits before also sending Knight (58 off 47 balls, 6×4, 1×6) back to the pavilion a couple of balls later.
SCOREBOARD
England: 169/5 (Sciver-Brunt 75, Knight 58, Mlaba 2/25 Ismail 2/31)
South Africa require 170 runs to win.
Teams for The Oval
England: Amy Jones (wk), Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Nat Sciver-Brunt(c), Alice Capsey, Heather Knight, Freya Kemp, Danielle Gibson, Charlotte Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell.
Proteas: Laura Wolvaardt(c), Tazmin Brits, Annerie Dercksen, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp, Nadine de Klerk, Chloe Tryon, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba
