Nat Sciver-Brunt produced one of the innings of the Women’s T20 World Cup so far to guide England home in the final over, against South Africa. Her 48 not out was not only the most substantial of the match, it was also the most aggressive, coming off 36 deliveries.

It was Sciver-Brunt’s 64-run stand with Danni Wyatt-Hodge that swung the match decisively in England’s favour, as they pursued a target of 125.

South Africa’s spinners had been valiant, particularly Nonkululeko Mlaba, who took 1 for 22 from her four overs. But with England’s strong batting line-up, they needed more of the chances the bowlers created to be taken. South Africa could not capitalise on two half-chances offered by Wyatt-Hodge, and though Sciver-Brunt rode her luck to some extent too, none of the mis-hits went to fielders.

The win leaves England in a strong position to qualify for the semi-finals, with two wins from two and a solid net run rate of 0.653. South Africa have more work to do.

Although England had been careful not to lose wickets early on, they required an injection of energy through the middle overs to set them properly on course for victory, and Sciver-Brunt was the woman to provide it. She was immediately dynamic at the crease, hitting her fourth ball for four behind square on the offside, before settling into her usual rhythm of picking runs through the legside.

She would frequently shuffle to off and target the square leg boundary against the spinners, even if, on such a slow surface, she didn’t always find the timing. She hit 32 of her runs in the arc between fine leg and deep midwicket, scoring four boundaries in that direction.

Though Wyatt-Hodge was stumped with 11 still to get off 12 deliveries, Sciver-Brunt struck a four in each of the last two overs, and iced the game.

Between them, left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone  legspinner Sarah Glenn, and offspinner Charlie Dean bowled 12 overs for 58 runs, and took four wickets. Linsey Smith, also a left-arm spinner, took 1 for 32 off her four overs too.

But it was the tight, varied bowling of Ecclestone and Glenn that really kept the scoring down through the middle overs. Ecclestone got the two biggest opposition wickets – bowling Laura Wolvaardt in the 16th over, before crashing another one into the stumps of an advancing Marizanne Kapp int he 19th over. She finished with figures of 2 for 15 from her four – the best returns in the game.

She’d started so strongly. South Africa’s captain won the toss in what was an obviously bat-first situation, and looked excellent in the powerplay, in which she scored 22 off 15 balls, helping take South Africa to a healthy 37 for 1. But then England’s spinners applied the brakes, and she was unable to find the boundary for the remainder of her innings, which went until the 16th over. She maintained a decent scoring rate thanks to her singles and twos, but against a batting order of England’s quality, South Africa needed a score in the vicinity of 150 to feel safe.

Then, in the field, she let two half-chances off Wyatt-Hodge slip through her outstretched fingers, the first of those let-offs coming when the batter was on only 8.

Still, Wolvaardt’s was the most substantial of South Africa’s individual contributions – she made 42 off 39.

Brief scores:
England Women 125 for 3 in 19.2 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 48*, Dani Wyatt-Hodge 43; Marizanne Kapp 1-17, Nonkululeko Mlaba 1-22, Nadine de Klerk 1-23) beat South Africa Women  124 for 6 in 20 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 42, Marizanne Kapp 26,Annerie Dercksen 20*; Linsey Smith 1-32, Charlie Dean 1-25, Sophie Ecclestone 2-15, Sarah Glenn 1-18) by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]