de Klerk’s knock for the ages sees South Africa beat India

Nadine de Klerk played an incredible knock for the ages to get South Africa over the line in their Women’s Cricket World Cup match against host India at Visakhapatnam yesterday.

de Klerk struck 8 fours and 5 sixes in her career best innings of 84* off 54 balls, as South Africa chased down a target of 252 to win by three wickets with seven balls to spare. As soon as the winning hit for six was made, every member of the South African squad, even the senior members, ran out to congratulate her. South Africa were down but not out of it, and it needed something special to register the win and de Klerk produced that. She eclipsed Richa Ghosh’s knock earlier in the day. It was India’s first defeat of the tournament in three matches.

The chase for South Africa started with Kranti Gaud pulling off a blinder in her own bowling to dismiss Tazmin Brits for nought. Sune Luus did not last long and Laura Wolvaardt held one end up as wickets tumbled from the other. South Africa were 81-5 when Chloe Tryon joined her skipper, and they started to get South Africa back into the game, slowly knocking it around and building a partnership of 61 off 97 balls. From there, on it was de Klerk as she added 69 off 60 with Tryon (49 off 66 balls, 5 fours) and a match winning 41* off 18 balls with Ayabonga Khaka (1*) to take the Player of the Match award.

India continued their way of bouncing back from tricky positions to post a more than competitive total of 251. They recovered from 124-6 to 269-8 against Sri Lanka, 159-5 to 247 against Pakistan, and 102-6 to 251 yesterday. That splendid recovery was possible due to Richa Ghosh, who hit the highest score while batting at No. 8 or lower in a Women’s ODI – 94 off 77 balls, surpassing Chloe Tryon’s 74 against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium in May this year. 

Ghosh walked in with her team in a spot of bother and opted for an approach, which none of her teammates took. She batted positively and scored at a brisk rate, even while Amanjot Kaur was batting at a snail’s pace. The duo stitched a fifty partnership (51 off 84 balls) before Amanjot (13 off 44 balls) fell to Tryon. Sneh Rana came out with a positive intent and Ghosh was at her power-hitting best as they shared an eighth wicket stand of 88 off 53 balls. The Indian wicketkeeper batter smashed 11 fours and 4 sixes to take her team’s total over 250, which looked almost impossible when she came in to bat. 98 runs came off the last 9.5 overs and India once again found a way to bounce back when their backs were against the wall.

Inserted to bat, India got off to a solid start as they scored 55-0 in the powerplay. They lost seven wickets to left-arm spin in two matches in this tournament. So, there was a lot of focus on how they would fare against the two South African left-arm spinners. Nonkululeku Mlaba was introduced in the 11th over and she struck with her second ball by removing Smriti Mandhana as the latter tried to play a big shot. Post that, the Proteas squeezed the flow of runs and pressure got to India. The home team slipped from 83-1 to 102-6. While Mlaba and Tryon picked two wickets apiece, Sekhukhune and Kapp picked a wicket each. Eventually, it was a whirlwind last 10 overs that brought India firmly back into this game.

Scores:

India Women 251 (49.5) (Pratika Rawal 37, Smriti Mandhana 23, Richa Ghosh 94, Sneh Rana 33, Marizanne Kapp 2/45, Nadine de Klerk 2/52, Nonkululeku Mlaba 2/46, Chloe Tryon 3/32)

South Africa Women 252-7 (48.5) (Laura Wolvaardt 70, Marizanne Kapp 20, Chloe Tryon 49, Nadine de Klerk 84*, Kranti Gaud 2/59, Sneh Rana 2/47)