Nadine de Klerk and Chole Tyron’s 124-run sixth-wicket partnership helped South Africa stage a come-from-behind win in the first ODI against New Zealand in Potchefstroom.

Tryon joined de Klerk with South Africa struggling at 111 for 5 in the 28th over of the 236 chase. Captain Laura Wolvaardt had just been knocked over by Hannah Rowe for 50. The duo took their time to consolidate and, in the 34th over, the asking rate went above six runs an over for the first time in the innings. That was when Tryon smacked three fours off Sophie Devine to bring it down to 5.6 an over.

Five overs of ticking along later, de Klerk took Eden Carson down, hitting three fours in a 17-run over to begin the final powerplay. It took the required rate down from 5.8 to 4.55 an over.

De Klerk and Tryon brought up their respective fifties off consecutive balls in the 44th over and then continued to rotate the strike and find the gaps. Tryon fell to Devine for 71 off 58 balls in the 47th over with the scores level and de Klerk hit the winning runs in the next over to finish on 58 not out off 77 balls.

After being put in, New Zealand got off to a slow start and were left five down for 55 in 19.4 overs. Hannah Rowe and Brooke Halliday’s 117-run partnership for the fifth wicket then resurrected their innings.

Rowe and Halliday rebuilt the innings gradually and then accelerated, also getting the run rate up in the process. Halliday brought up her fifty off 70 balls in the 39th over, which Rowe got to hers in the 41st over off 67 balls.

Rowe fell in the 43rd over to Masabata Klass – who finished with 3 for 60 – and Halliday in the 48th to de Klerk – who picked up 2 for 34 – but Lea Tahuhu and Jess Kerr pushed the total to 235 by adding a total of 45 runs off 31 balls.

Brief scores:
South Africa 236 for 6 (Chole Tryon 71, Nadine de Klerk 58*, Lura Wolvaardt 50; Jess Kerr 2-47, Hannah Rowe 2-26) beat New Zealand 235 for 8 (Brooke Halliday 76, Hannah Rowe 52, Masabata Klaas 3-60, Nadine de Klerk 2-34) by four wickets

(Cricinfo)

It was a low-scoring bronze-medal playoff, with a total of 129 runs scored for the fall of 14 wickets across 38.2 overs. That might not have done much to get those unfamiliar with the game in the Chinese city excited, but Bangladesh will take it, not necessarily because of the colour of the medal, but the result itself: when the same two teams contested the final of the 2014 edition in Incheon (the last time cricket was a part of the Asian Games), Pakistan had won by four runs (DLS method).

Here, Bangladesh opted to field after winning the toss, and it was 6 for 2 inside two overs and 18 for 4 in the ninth, the wickets shared between Marufa Akter, Nahida Akter, Sanjida Akter and Rabeya Khan. Sadaf Shamas was the only one getting into double-digits in that phase.

There was a bit of a fightback after that courtesy Natalia Pervaiz (11), captain Nida Dar (14) and Aliva Riaz (17), but Shorna struck twice in the 15th over, sending back Dar and Umm-e-Hani, and then took out Riaz in the final over on her way to returns of 3 for 16. All Pakistan had on the board was 64.

That shouldn’t have been too many for Bangladesh, and they started well with Shamima Sultana and Shathi Rani putting up 27 for the first wicket. But they were dismissed in quick succession to leave the scoreboard reading 30 for 2, and with Nashra Sandhu striking regularly, Bangladesh were 43 for 4 by the 11th over.

A few more runs, and the story could have been different for Pakistan, but Bangladesh just needed to do it in singles from there on, which Shorna did well, her 14 not out coming off 33 balls without a four or a six, the win coming with ten balls left.

Brief scores:
Bangladesh 65 for 5 in 18.2 overs (Shorna Akter  14*, Nashra Sandhu 3-10) beat Pakistan 64 for 9 in 20 overs (Aliya Riaz 17, Shorna Akter 3-16, Sajinda Akter Meghla 2-11) by five wickets