OBAKENG MELETSE
South Africa 136 all out
Tryon 45, Wolvaardt 35; Ecclestone 3/27, Dean 4/45
England 137/4
Beaumont 34, Bouchier; Dercksen 2/22
The Proteas women failed the spin test in the second ODI as they fell to a thumping six-wicket loss to England at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban on Sunday.
The three-match series is level at 1-1, with the third and final encounter set to be played at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.
Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone backed up Lauren Filer’s quick start with the ball, as they restricted the Proteas to a below-par score of 135 all out in just 31.3 overs. The visitors needed just 24 overs to chase down the target to set up a winner-takes-all final ODI.
Tamsin Beaumont and Maia Bouchier got the former world champions to a solid start with the bat with their 69-run partnership. South Africa were up against it, and they needed to pick up early quick wickets to claw their way back into the contest, but the opening pair nullified any threat as they comfortably saw off the new ball.
Annerie Dercksen would later dismiss both openers to continue her good form with the ball, but the damage was already done.
Earlier, English medium pacer Filer (3/32) had the rhythm, and her pace found the South African top order wanting as they failed to deal with her accurate bowling upfront, with both Tazmin Brits (5) and Sune Luus (4) falling cheaply as South Africa was in early trouble at 14/2.
Laura Wolvaardt, playing in her 100th ODI match, was at her elegant best, and fresh off her fighting half-century in the first encounter, South Africa’s poor start to the second match required her to pull out a similar innings.
Wolvaardt with Dercksen (29) restored order, and their partnership of 58 runs off just 79 balls seemed to have calmed things through some testing spells from Natalie Sciver-Brunt and Kate Cross.
And needing to make a play to break the partnership, Captain Heather Knight threw the ball to her trusted spin pair, and they duly delivered. Dean and Ecclestone have had South Africa’s number dating back to the T20 series, where they played a huge hand in the 3-0 drubbing.
Dercksen, on the other hand, had also shown quite a lot of promise throughout the tour with a lot of handy knocks in the middle order, but her inability to convert her starts once again brought a premature end to her innings after she sliced a tossed-up Dean’s delivery to Filer at backward point.
The fall of the 23-year-old opened the floodgates, and carnage soon ensued. South Africa, at 72/3, lost four more wickets, having only added four runs. Amongst the four was the key wickets of Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp (0) and Nadine de Klerk (0), with Dean ripping through the heart of the home side's batting lineup to pick up a hat trick in the process.
The spin twins picked up seven wickets between themselves, and Chloe Tryon's late charge with the bat gave some respect to South Africa’s score, but it ended up not being enough as England cruised to victory with 26 overs to spare.