Sharjah: England captain Heather Knight hailed the calm heads of batters Nat Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt-Hodge as they floor out a hard-fought victory over South Africa of their ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup fixture at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The pair mixed fantastically on one other troublesome pitch to haul England in the direction of the required whole of 125 after a sluggish begin with the bat.
Opener, Wyatt-Hodge, survived the stodgy opening few overs to supply a run-a-ball 43 earlier than finally falling within the 18th over with the job all however achieved, whereas Sciver-Brunt posted an unbeaten 48 off 36 balls to steer her facet house.
It leaves England accountable for Group B as the one undefeated facet forward of their matches in opposition to Scotland and West Indies, and Knight was happy with the best way her facet discovered a strategy to win in opposition to the workforce that knocked them out within the semi-final of final 12 months’s event.
“I feel that was a very managed win,” she mentioned. “We managed the center overs after they had been batting and actually restricted them. The pitch was barely higher than the opposite day however we nonetheless thought it was going to be a difficult chase. It has been actually robust to chase right here however I assumed we managed that chase brilliantly.
“Nat a cool, calm head in addition to Danni, that partnership was excellent to look at. You might see her [Wyatt-Hodge] getting annoyed on the market. She just isn’t used to scoring at a 100 strike-rate. That’s what it will tackle these pitches typically.
“We now have talked quite a bit about it and simply discovering a approach, being actually ruthless with it. She did brilliantly, discovering good choices. You may virtually predict what she was going to do within the dugout.
“Her and Nat, that was a correct partnership. They’ve had a couple of collectively however the best way they managed it, the smartness, the physicality, it was a correct job.”
England additionally benefitted from one other spectacular efficiency at a T20 World Cup from bowler Sophie Ecclestone, who took two for 15 from her 4 overs to limit South Africa within the center overs.
It proved essential as South Africa had been in the end unable to get sufficient runs on the board, and Knight was thrilled to see her star bowler carry out on the large stage.
She added: “They’re the kind of video games I like captaining as you’re feeling like you can also make an actual distinction. The women bowled outstandingly once more. We backed up what we did the opposite night time. Sophie was again to her finest, the best way she bowled made it actually robust. She appeared to get a bit of bounce, I don’t know the way, she appears the one one which will get a little bit of bounce on the market. It was a correct efficiency.”
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt additionally highlighted her facet’s center overs with the bat as key to the result of the competition, as she admitted her facet felt they left runs out within the center after ending on 124 for six.
“We’re clearly very dissatisfied,” she mentioned. “I feel 10-20 extra runs with the bat might have been attention-grabbing.
“We didn’t take our possibilities within the area however the bowlers bowled fairly effectively. We simply need to tighten up on the opposite two.”
“Once we began batting, we had been speaking a few 140 mark. We had that interval after the powerplay the place we misplaced our approach a bit of bit after which had some massive hitters are available in in the long run. We might have began {that a} bit earlier.”
Wolvaardt top-scored for her facet with 42 alongside a quickfire 26 from Marizanne Kapp, who additionally impressed with the ball to limit England within the powerplay.
It’s precisely the sort of type her captain hopes she will be able to take into video games in opposition to Bangladesh and Scotland, with South Africa seemingly needing to win each to make sure development.
“I don’t suppose you may ask for way more with the brand new ball,” added Wolvaardt. “The spinners, the management within the center might have been a bit of bit higher however it’s so robust to bowl to those batters who’ve all of the photographs. It appears like all of them have all of the photographs so it’s troublesome to set fields.”
