Nadine de Klerk’s career-best 84* trumped Richa Ghosh’s  counter punching 94 in the battle of No.8s as South Africa emerged victorious in the Women’s World Cup’s  first thriller. South Africa completed the fifth-highest successful chase in World Cups and their eight highest in women’s ODIs in a match where the advantage changed sides several times and overflowed with tension.

Put into bat, India started well when they scored 55 in the powerplay before South Africa stormed through the next 16 overs and reduced India to 102 for 6. Ghosh and Amanjot Kaur put on 51 for the seventh wicket before Ghosh and Sneh Rana, who produced a cameo of 33 from 24 balls took India to a competitive total. In their last 10 overs, India scored 98 runs which may have knocked the wind out of South Africa’s sails.

It seemed that way as their reply started poorly. They were 81 for 5 in the 20th over and looked all but out of the game. Laura Wolvaardt and Chloe Tryon put on 61 for the sixth wicket, Chloe and de Klerk shared a stand of 69 but when Tryon was dismissed, South Africa still needed 41 runs off 25 balls. De Klerk scored 39 runs off the next 15 balls she faced to take South Africa to victory with seven balls to spare. South Africa moved up to fourth on the points table, level with England and India but with a lower net run-rate.

Having chased 275 against India at the 2022 World Cup, South Africa would have known what’s possible but they were off to the worst possible start. Tazmin Brits was dismissed for the first duck of her ODI career when Kranti Gaud pulled off a stunning return catch, reacting in a time of 0.5 seconds to grab the ball with her left hand. Sune Luus reviewed successfully when given out lbw to Amanjot but went fishing at a wide ball in the next over and nicked off. India thought they had Kapp six balls later but it bobbled out of Rawal’s hands at point.

Kapp and Wolvaardt recovered decently with a 39-run third-wicket stand but were separated by a magic ball from Rana which held its line as Kapp played inside and was bowled. Anneke Bosch’s wretched run continued and she popped a return catch to Deepti to extend her run of scores under 20 to eight ODI innings. SInalo Jafta continued to look convincing at No.6 but was the first South African done in by left-arm spin. She was lbw to Shree Charani as she shuffled across and missed a flick.

Through all that Wolvaardt was stoic and patient. She reached fifty off 81 balls, by which point Tyron was on five off 22. The pair worked well together, Tryon found some scoring rhythm and their partnership grew to 61 before Gaud was brought back for a second spell. Her fifth ball was full and straight and Wolvaardt could not keep it out as it smashed into middle stump.

Tryon kept things going with de Klerk and South Africa entered the last 10 overs needing 81 runs. What they didn’t have was a player with Ghosh’s power. Tryon may be as close as it comes but she struggled with a calf niggle that was protected by a compression sock and then required heavy strapping. They needed 60 off the last six overs. Tryon tried to get Amanjot away but it was de Klerk who got a short, wide ball away for four and she found her touch at the right time.

In the next over, she hit Rana for six and four before taking a single to put Tryon on strike. She came down the track and was hit on the pad and given lbw and a review could not save her. Then, it was all de Klerk. She took on Gaud and sent her over midwicket and down the ground for back-to-back sixes – the first got her to fifty – and then made room to carve her away for four. At that point, Ghosh went down needing treatment on her hamstring a la Rishabh Pant in the T20 World Cup final. Then, South Africa lost their heads. This time, de Klerk kept hers.

She took a smart single to keep strike. 23 needed off 18. The game was all but done but de Klerk still needed to stay there. She hit two fours off Deepti, over square leg and covers and then South Africa needed 12 off 12. De Klerk finished it off with two sixes over deep midwicket and long-on as Wolvaardt fist-pumped and a small contingent of South African fans sang louder than the several thousand home crowd.

Earlier, India started well as boundaries came easily in the opening exchanges with two off Kapp’s first over and five in the first five overs. Pratika Rawal hit all of them and survived an lbw shout off Kapp after the South African overstepped. Smriti Mandhana struggled for fluency but hit a glorious shot in anger when she advanced on Khaka and hit her back over her head for six. With that she become the batter with the most runs in ODIs in a calendar year, going past Belinda Clarke.

After a solid powerplay, Mandhana became the first to fall when she went after Nonkululekho Mlaba’s second ball and toe-ended it to Luus at long-on. Mlaba and de Klerk dried up boundaries, with only one between overs 10 and 17 and then Mlaba struck again. She spun the ball past Harleen Deol’s outside edge, bowled her and waved goodbye for good measure.

South Africa’s fourth seam option Tumi Sekhukhune was brought on in the 18th over and immediately found a good length. In her second over, she foxed Rawal with a slower ball. Rawal was too early on the stroke and got a leading edge that went up high enough for Brits to comfortably make her way from midwicket to take it.

That brought Jemimah Rodrigues to join Harmnapreet Kaur. But they were only together for just an over. Rodrigues was dismissed for her second duck in three matches when she attempted a sweep against Tryon and missed. She was given out lbw and reviewed unsuccessfully, making it the third time in the tournament she has been dismissed by left-arm spin. Overall, India are the team that have been most susceptible, with 11 dismissals in the tournament to left-arm spin.

Harmanpreet laboured her way to nine off 24 balls before she tried to force Tryon away on the off side but top-edged and Kapp took a low catch at backward point. With India 100 for 5 at the halfway mark, Wolvaardt went for the kill and brought back Kapp. Deepti followed her down leg and was caught behind but reviewed in vain. India were 102 for 6 but Amanjot and then some to come.

After digging India out of a similar hole  – 124 for 6 against Sri Lanka. – Amajot recovered from the fever that kept her out of the Pakistan match and found herself needing to do it again. Ghosh almost deserted her when she nearly popped a return catch to Kapp but then hit Tryon over mid-on for four for the first boundary in 14.3 overs. A rare Luus misfield gave Ghosh a second four off Khaka and it was clear she would become the senior partner. She swept Tyron and Mlaba, hit Sekhukhune over long-on for six and contributed 36 runs in a stand of 51 with Amanjot. By the time Amanjot was ready to get going, Tryon was delivering her last ball and Amanjot mis-hit her over mid-off. Luus ran backwards to take her 56th international catch, equally Dane van Niekerk for the most outfield catches by a South African in ODIs.

India lost Amanjot with the last 10 overs looming but Ghosh provided momentum. She picked up a de Klerk slower ball and hit it for six and got back-to-back boundaries off Mlaba and reached her seventh ODI fifty off 53 balls. Ghosh reverse swept Mlaba, hit Kapp over cover for four and then took on Khaka, taking 19 runs off seventh over. She entered the 90s when she hit de Klerk over her head for four and then moved to 94 with a slice past point. She hit the next ball to long-on but reviewed for a no-ball and ball tracking showed the ball would have passed her 4cm below her waistline. South Africa finished with two wickets in two balls which may have been crucial to their victory march.

Brief scores:
South Africa Women 252 for 7 in 48.5 overs (De Klerk 84*, Laura Wolvaardt 70, Marizanne Kapp 20, Chloe Tryon 49; Kranti Goud 2-59, Sneh Rana 2-47) beat India Women  251 in in 49.5 overs (Pratika Rawal 37, Smriti Mandhana 23, Richa Ghosh 94, Sneh Rana 33; Marizzanne Kapp 2-45, Nadine de Klerk 2-52, Nonkululeko Mlaba 2-46, Chloe Tryon 3-32) by three wickets

[Cricinfo]