ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: Marizanne Kapp Decimates Scotland After South Africa Register A Thumping Victory

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Marizanne Kapp’s blistering 43-run knock, followed by a combined bowling effort led South Africa to a statement 80-run victory over Scotland in the 11th match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 here at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. South Africa’s openers put on 64, a middle order led by Marizanne Kapp crashed 70 off the last eight overs, and South Africa motored to 166 for 5, the highest total of the tournament.

Opting to bat on an hot and sultry afternoon in Dubai, Laura Wolvaardt, Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp struck quickfire forties to plunder a total of 166 for 5, which proved to be too much for the Scotts, who fell short by massive 80 with the impressive Nonkululeko Mlaba taking 3 for 12 and were officially knocked out of the running for a semifinal berth. South Africa gave their Net Run Rate a substantial boost with a power-packed batting performance against Scotland that resulted in the tournament’s highest total.

Pitch and Toss

“37 degrees (the temperature) right now. Dimensions – 57 and 63 square, 73 meters straight down the ground. Even though there is a bit of grass, it looks a bit dry. The batters need to play with the turn and use their bottom hand. Need to work the ball around and push the fielders in the deep, because this is a low bounce surface, so playing across the line would be risky,” reckon WV Raman and Pommie Mbangwa.

South Africa Women team skipper Laura Wolvaardt won the toss and chose to bat with no changes in the playing XI. Scotland Women team skipper Kathryn Bryce batting first also made no changes in the playing XI.

Marizanne Kapp and other batters propels SA to 166 for 5

It was openers Laura Wolvaardt (40) and Tazmin Brits (43) who set the tone for the Proteas, before Marizanne Kapp lit up the game with a blistering 43 from just 24 deliveries. Scotland put in a brave effort with the ball and in the field, not letting their heads drop in the face of a world-class batting assault, as Olivia Bell, Kathryn Bryce, Katherine Fraser, Rachel Slater and Darcey Carter all picked up wickets. But the T20 World Cup debutants were left with far too big a task with the bat, slipping to their third defeat of the tournament.

Having won the toss and chosen to bat first, South Africa’s openers made a fast start in their first-ever international meeting with Scotland in Dubai. Laura Wolvaardt took advantage of being dropped early as she led the charge, setting the platform for a huge score alongside fellow opener Tazmin Brits.

The Proteas racked up 60/0 in the powerplay, the highest by any team at the tournament so far, having reached 50 runs in fewer deliveries than any team. Scotland stemmed the flow of runs when Olivia Bell held on to a chance off Katherine Fraser to end Wolvaardt’s knock of 40 (27).

And a second wicket fell off Darcey Carter’s first ball as she had Anneke Bosch (11) caught at mid-off, but with 89 already on the board with the best part of nine overs remaining, South Africa’s top order had put them in a dominant position. And the arrival of Marizanne Kapp only accelerated the momentum.

Tazmin Brits missed out on a half-century when she holed out on 43 (35), looking to hit Bell over the long-off boundary. But Marizanne Kapp was in scintillating form as she found the rope with impressive frequency, hitting six boundaries in her sparkling 43 (24) before attempting one shot too many and departing to Bryce as Carter, who was excellent in the field throughout, held on to a good catch.

Chloe Tryon’s disappointing form with the bat continued as she fell cheaply towards the death, and Annerie Dercksen could only manage 1* from 4 deliveries in the final over, but Sune Luus (18*) boosted the score as South Africa reached the highest total of the tournament, finishing on 166/5.

The tone for South Africa’s second group-stage win was set early by the opening pair of Wolvaardt and Brits. The former was reprieved on 2 in just the second over of the innings when Katherine Fraser put down a simple chance at mid-off. Wolvaardt made Scotland pay for their benevolence by hitting the very next delivery for a four. She hit two more boundaries in the next over, bowled by Rachel Slater, before welcoming offspinner Olivia Bell by lofting her towards the sight screen for a six and a four.

Brits was the subdued partner through all of Wolvaardt’s early enterprise but drilled Slater in the final over of the PowerPlay for a pair of boundaries through extra cover to kickstart her own innings. That 18-run over gave South Africa a PowerPlay score of 60/0 and also saw Wolvaardt go past Lizelle Lee’s tally of 1896 runs to become South Africa’s highest run-getter in this format.

Wolvaardt’s blazing knock eventually ended in the eighth over after Fraser made up for her earlier drop by dismissing the South African captain courtesy a fine catch from Bell. It marked the best period with the ball for Scotland, who gave away just 23 runs in the four overs leading to the midpoint of the innings. Darcey Carter then struck with her first ball of the game to dismiss Anneke Bosch but that dismissal only served to bring the belligerent Marizanne Kapp to the middle.

Marizanne Kapp began by stepping out of her crease to hit successive boundaries off Abtaha Maqsood. After Brits holed out to long off, Marizanne Kapp took charge of the innings’ final flourish, continuing to use her feet to increasingly devastating effect. In all she hit six boundaries before falling in the 18th over. South Africa managed 44 runs from their final five overs to push the total beyond Scotland’s reach.

For the second time in three matches, South Africa’s openers were outstanding in the early going (they’d also put on an unbeaten 119 together against West Indies). Laura Wolvaardt had given an early chance, slapping a full toss straight to Katherine Fraser at mid-off, only to be dropped on 2.

She took full toll of the mistake, hitting three fours and a six off the next 13 balls she faced. With Tazmin Brits also joining the boundary-frenzy in the sixth over, South Africa sped to 60 for no loss by the end of the powerplay.

Marizanne Kapp arrived at the start of the 12th over, and quickly began to dominate. Her first two boundaries came from drives through cover, and then long-off against leg spinner Abtaha Maqsood. Then she settled into a rhythm of singles to the leg side, with the occasional lapped sweep with the short fine leg inside the circle. Marizanne Kapp holed out against the bowling of Kathryn Bryce in the 18th over, but she had cracked 43 off 24 balls – the best knock of the game.

Nonkululeko Mlaba 3 wickets give SA thumping 80 runs victory over SCOTLAND

Ayabonga Khaka (1/8 from 3 overs) removed Saskia Horley (6) and Chloe Tryon picked up both of the Bryce sisters caught and bowled, dismissing Sarah Bryce for 5 and Kathryn Bryce for 7 to leave Scotland needing a miracle from their middle order. And that miracle was not forthcoming as the match fizzled out as a contest.

Nadine de Klerk struck to remove Priyanaz Chatterji (4), and the outstanding Nonkululeko Mlaba showed her class, taking two in two balls to end Ailsa Lister’s brave resistance (12) and send Darcey Carter (0) packing, cleaning up both batters. The Scotland tail made South Africa wait for their win, with Katherine Fraser top-scoring with 14.

But victory was sealed with 2.1 overs remaining when De Klerk dismissed Abtaha Maqsood, with Scotland all out for 86, still 80 runs behind. Mlaba’s 3/12 were the pick of the figures, with Tryon taking 2/22 and De Klerk 2/15.

Scotland’s response began with an authoritative boundary from Sarah Bryce but any notion of a chase petered out quickly enough. Sarah was caught and bowled by Chloe Tryon in the third over, creating a domino effect. Tryon got the other Bryce sister, Katherine, in a near identical manner while Ayabonga Khaka had Saskia Horley chip a simple catch to extra cover between the two dismissals to leave Scotland struggling at 34 for 3 after six overs.

As wickets continued to tumble, left-arm spinner Mlaba took over and rose to the top of the tournament wicket-takers chart by cleaning up Ailsa Lister and Darcey Carter, the latter bowled around her legs as Scotland slipped to 45 for 6. Katherine Fraser soldiered on from one end for a brief while but her knock only served to reduce the margin of eventual defeat. She was the third of Mlaba’s victims in the evening as South Africa polished off the win with a string of excellent catches in the field.

While a target of 167 was always going to be incredibly challenging, Scotland will be displeased with how meekly their top order fell. The Bryce sisters both provided leading edges to the bowler, and Saskia Horley gave a simple catch to extra cover. That exposed the middle order to South Africa’s in-form bowler Mlaba, whose first wicket came from a beautifully-flighted delivery to Alisa Lister, who was beaten in the air and walked past the ball.

Scotland were 34 for 3 by the end of the powerplay, and had soon sunk to 39 for 5 and 56 for 7, with a big defeat all but assured. Only South Africa and Scotland have played three matches so far, but key players seem to be finding form for South Africa, as they head towards the bigger matches to come.

Lead among these is Mlaba, who even bowled Darcey Carter around the legs for her second wicket, and bowled 19 dot balls from her 24 deliveries. She has a tournament-high eight wickets, with an economy rate of 5.25. Wolvaardt, meanwhile, is the tournament’s highest run-scorer, with 141 runs at an average of 70.50, and a strike rate of 116.52.

Presentations and Road Ahead

Laura Wolvaardt the winning skipper said :  Can’t ask for more, great first half and followed it up with some excellent bowling as well. We did speak about it (NRR) coming into this game, we just felt the best chance to win the game was put a lot of runs on the board. We wanted to be ruthless with the ball and show what we are about.

Every game it has been different, nice to have so many bowling options and so many all-rounders. Massive game for us (talking about their next game against Bangladesh), we need a win after losing the last game and hopefully this game will give us the confidence to put up a good show.

Kathryn Bryce the losing skipper said : Just the little moments, few chances and it proved costly at the end and lost a few wickets early and we were always behind the game. When you are in that sort of pressure, tough to execute. Great to share the field and knowledge with them (South Africa).

It is always going to be tough (facing England), back there in Sharjah it will be different conditions, we will try and see what we can learn from the games and all the practice and see where we end up.

Marizanne Kapp Player of the Match for her innings said :  Little bit nervous at the start of the match. Wicket was lot slower today, played a bit slower. The heat has been really tough, luckily the two day games are out of the way. Today was the slowest it has been.

We have been working on a few options against spin and it came off. It’s more a confidence thing for me. Focusing more on the basics, backing my strengths. Good total, would have liked it if we had pushed to 180-190 considering where we were but good learnings and we now face Bangladesh on this.

kipper Laura Wolvaardt had no hesitation in opting to bat when she won the toss. The idea was simple. She mentioned that her team’s best chance to win this game was to put runs on the board. The batters didn’t let her down. As many as three batters struck 40-plus scores and helped South Africa record the highest total in this edition.

While they also managed to post the highest powerplay score of the tournament (60/0), skipper Wolvaardt went past Lizelle Lee to become the leading run-scorer for South Africa in T20Is. After posting 166, all the Proteas needed to do was back it up with a decent bowling performance and the bowlers stepped up big time by knocking Scotland out cheaply.

Only 2 batters managed to get into double-digit scores and barring Kapp, every other bowler got a wicket under their name. Just the ideal game for South Africa before heading into their final league game against Bangladesh this Saturday. South Africa’s openers put on 64, a middle order led by Marizanne Kapp crashed 70 off the last eight overs, and South Africa motored to 166 for 5, the highest total of the tournament.

Scotland’s reply was in tatters in the first seven overs. They lost both openers for single figures, captain Kathryn Bryce was out inside the powerplay, before Alisa Lister and Priyanaz Chatterji departed soon after. They were soon 45 for 6 at the start of the ninth over, and continued to collapse, sliding eventually to 86 all out in the 18th.

South Africa’s left-arm spinners were the prime destroyers. Chloe Tryon was the first to strike, dismissing the Bryce sisters – Katherine and Sarah – caught-and-bowled in successive overs. Nonkululeko Mlaba was a menace through the middle overs, as she has been all tournament, and collected the game’s best figures of 3 for 12 from her four overs, with Nadine de Klerk also getting two wickets in addition to Tryon. Thus, the 80-run victory pushed South Africa to the top of Group B, their net run rate rising to 1.317.

The result moves South Africa to the top of Group B, two points clear of West Indies and ahead of England on net run rate, albeit having played a match more than both teams. That 80-run margin of victory also means that the Proteas have a superior NRR to West Indies and vastly superior to Bangladesh, which could yet prove critical in the final Group B shake-up.

Scotland’s third defeat means that the tournament’s lowest-ranked side are also the first team to be mathematically ruled out of semi-final contention. They will end their tournament against England on Sunday.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: “Side Arm Specialists In India Need To Work Hard To Prepare Batters For Tough Times”- Abhishek Jain Gives His Invaluable Insights

 

 


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