A powerful batting performance underpinned England’s 36-run victory in Benoni, sealing the T20I series against South Africa with one to play. Danni Wyatt Hodge and Nat Sciver Brunt both hit half-centuries, with their 112-run stand for the third wicket setting up England for their joint-third highest total in T20 internationals, before Sarah Glenn’s four-wicket haul strangled the South Africa chase.

Having won while batting second in the first match of the series, in East London, this time around England were asked to put up a score. They hit an early speed bump, when Ayanda Hlubi struck twice in her opening over to reduced them to 15 for 2 – but Wyatt-Hodge and Sciver-Brunt simply floored the accelerator in response to put England in the driving seat.

Wyatt-Hodge was particularly aggressive, hitting 66 of her 78 from 45 balls in boundaries and doing the bulk of the scoring during her stand with Sciver-Brunt, England’s second-highest in T20Is against South Africa. Sciver-Brunt then added 54 off 35 in partnership with Heather Knight, before Amy Jones took them past 200 with back-to-back scoops in the final over.

Asked to pull off what would have been only the second successful chase of 200-plus in T20Is, South Africa needed to come out firing. But they lost Tazmin Brits in Sciver-Brunt’s first over, pulling tamely to midwicket, and had edged along to 30 for 1 at the end of the powerplay. Glenn took out the middle order as the asking rate rose, and although some late hitting from Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk made the final margin respectable, South Africa were well short.

England were already going at 10 an over when Hlubi struck with her third and fifth legitimate balls, Maia Bouchier following up consecutive boundaries with a tame chip to midwicket, before Sophia Dunkley played on for a duck. Wyatt-Hodge responded by taking five fours from the next three overs, either side of a tough chance to Sinolo Jafta off de Klerk, as England ended the powerplay in buoyant mood on 48 for 2.

She might have been dismissed from the first ball with the restrictions off, but Nonkululeko Mlaba misjudged a swirling top edge to deep third from Annmari Derckson’s first ball. Two more boundaries came in the same over, followed up by Wyatt-Hodge hitting Mlaba for six and then four to bring up her half-century from 31 balls. She continued to find the ropes thereafter, taking Tryon for back-to-back boundaries and doing the same to Nondumiso Shangase, whose sole over went for 16.

Wyatt-Hodge finally departed in the 13th over, defeated by a dipping de Klerk yorker (having hit the previous ball for four), for a career-best T20I score against South Africa – and having become the first Englishwoman to pass 3000 runs in the format along the way.

Although she was comfortably outscored by Wyatt-Hodge during their stand, Sciver-Brunt eased into another telling display, having been the driving force behind England’s successful chase in the first T20I. She was also dropped, on 32, top-edging a sweep off Mlaba, but kept the momentum of the England innings going, frequently using her feet to manipulate the field while picking off boundaries along the way. Two in a row off Eliz-Mari Marx took Sciver-Brunt to a 33-ball fifty, and she then demonstrated her power with an 88-metre six off Mlaba to end the 18th over.

Knight departed at the start of the next, chipping a return catch to the persevering de Klerk, but England were well on track to breach the 200-mark. Across the course of the innings, 11 overs went for double-figures, and all of South Africa’s bowlers took punishment during a wayward effort that left them too much to do with the bat.

Although South Africa avoided losing more than one wicket in the powerplay, the top order struggled to combine laying a platform and scoring at the required rate. Faye Tunnicliffe, in her first international appearance in three-and-a-half years, made 22 off 28 on the way to becoming Glenn’s first victim, and Laura Wolvaardt had just got her innings above a run a ball when she fell to Charlie Dean.

Dean’s third over was an eventful one that went for 18 as well as seeing the back of Wolvaardt, but although Annerie Dercksen had got going with back-to-back sixes off Freya Kemp, the requirement was getting out of hand. Dercksen survived being bowled off a no-ball by Lauren Filer but when she and Shangase were bowled off consecutive Glenn deliveries, the jig was up for South Africa, needing 119 off the last eight – even though Tryon, de Klerk and Jafta all cleared the ropes in the closing stages to give the scoreline some respectability.

Brief scores:
England Women 204 for 4 in 20 overs  (Danni Wyatt-Hodge 78, Nat Sciver-Brunt 67*, Heather Knight 26; Ayanda Hlubi 2-19, Nadine de Klerk 2-36) beat  South Africa Women 168 for 6 in 20 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 25, Nadine de Klerk 32*, Fay Tunnicliffe 22, Annerie Dercksen 24, Chloe Tryon 30; Nat Sciver Brunt 1-32, Charlie Dean 1-27, Sarah Glenn 4-20) by 36 runs

[Cricinfo]