South Africa needed a big win over Scotland at the Women’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, and coach Dillon du Preez’s charges answered the call.
Scoring a tournament-high 166/5 after opting to bat first, the Proteas bowled out Scotland for just 86 runs to win the match by 80 runs.
The winning margin – the biggest at the tournament to date – propelled them to the top of the standings in Group B with a healthy net run rate of 1.53.
Player of the Match Marizanne Kapp helped kap die Skotte op big time with her 43 runs off just 23 balls.
With Tazmin Brits (43 off 35 balls) and Laura Wolvaardt (40 off 27) also scoring big, Kapp says: “It was a good total, but I would have liked to push to 180-190, especially where we were after the power play.”
Of her innings, she adds: “I was a little bit nervous at the start, the wicket played a lot slower than our first game.”
The 34-year-old adds: “Luckily it came off…”
After doing their bit with the bat, South Africa needed to bowl out the Scots cheaply as well. And here the tournament’s leading wicket-taker before India and Sri Lanka locked horns last night, Nonkululeko Mlaba, stepped up big time to take 3/12.
The spinner now has eight wickets in the three matches played to date, with Nadine de Klerk (2/15) and Chloe Tryon (2/22) also chipping in to help their team to a big win.
Captain Wolvaardt was over the moon after the match, saying: “I can’t ask for much more, we were excellent all round.”
South Africa next face Bangladesh, who face the West Indies today, in their final group match on Saturday, with the two top teams qualifying for the semifinals.