Ayabonga Khaka’s superb seam bowling helped South Africa overcome Bangladesh in their opening match of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022.

Put in to bat in Dunedin, the Proteas were bundled out for a below-par 207 with Marizanne Kapp (42) and hard-hitting Chloe Tryon (39) lifting them to a competitive total.

Bangladesh made a steady start, reaching 69 for one before Khaka let rip and reduced them to 85 for four.

A late flurry from Nigar Sultana and Ritu Moni came too late as they managed 175 as South Africa prevailed by 32 runs in Dunedin.

Sune Luus’s side felt the absence of Lizelle Lee in a ponderous start to their seventh World Cup campaign, with Bangladesh excelling from the start in a fearless display.

Teenager Fariha Trisna should have dismissed Tazmin Brits with her second World Cup ball, only to watch Nahida Akter spill a dolly of a catch at mid-on.

Jahanara Alam’s experience and Trisna’s youth made for a pleasing new ball partnership and it took Brits 19 balls to get off the mark when she lifted the latter for four over mid-on.

Brits, a former world junior javelin champion, never got off the ground and flicked to Rumana at midwicket, departing for eight at 30 for one.

Wolvaardt and Lara Goodall steadied the ship with the powerful opener profiting from the introduction of spin, carving Salma Khatun’s second ball for four behind point.

Despite the odd loose delivery from Khatun, including a half-tracker that Wolvaardt dispatched, scoring wasn’t fluent as South Africa reached 67 for one from 20 overs.

Medium-pacer Moni’s nagging accuracy was rewarded with the big wicket of Wolvaardt as she drew the ball back through her defences, dismissed for 41 from 52 balls.

One brought two for Bangladesh as Khatun induced Goodall into a mistimed reverse sweep that Rumana Ahmed pouched down to her left, making it 69 for three.

Mignon du Preez initially took a liking to Rumana’s loopy leg spin but patted a simple return catch back to the bowler as her side sunk still further.

The experienced pair of Kapp and Luus took control with three boundaries off Nahida Akter but were separated when Rumana deflected a Kapp drive back onto the stumps with Luus short of her ground.

It was left to Tryon to inject some late life into a faltering innings and an 80-metre six off Rumana in the 38th over wasn’t a bad way to start.

Both Tryon and Kapp peppered the boundary in a brilliant 71 stand at better than a run-a-ball, with Tryon thumping Khatun over long-on for a mighty maximum.

The 28-year-old looked to go big again but was caught at mid-off for 39, heralding a flurry of late wickets. The last four went down for 14 runs inside five overs as South Africa subsided.

The Proteas went in search of early wickets with aggressive lines and lengths but were met with stoical resistance from Bangladesh.

Wolvaardt got a paw to a tough chance to get Sharmin Akhter in the fifth over but could only tip it over the bar and nearly took one that fell inches short of her a few balls later.

That was as good as it got for South Africa in their quest to halt the debutants’ momentum and Kapp let out a cry of frustration when Sharmin edged for four through the slips.

Sharmin and Shamima Sultana were circumspect early on but did flirt with danger, taking a thoroughly ill-advised single in the 14th over, saved only by cover point’s hesitation to throw.

They took two fours off Luus the over before the drinks break, taken at 59-0, with Sultana then dropped at slip and escaping another possible run out.

Khaka made the breakthrough by beating Sultana’s drive and bowling her for 27 at 69 for one.

She twisted the knife with two in an over, first getting Sharmin (34) to feather behind and two balls later Murshida Khatun guided another edge to Trisha Chetty.

Poor running between the wickets was finally punished when Fargana Hoque was run out for eight and the brilliant Khaka brought up her century when Rumana nicked to Chetty.

Bangladesh wouldn’t go away and Nigar Sultana and Moni built a half-century stand, the latter’s stroke-making offering more than a glimmer of late hope.

That hope flickered out when Moni was bowled by Ismail for an excellent 27 and two further wickets saw Bangladesh finish on 175 all out.

Scores in brief

South Africa beat Bangladesh at University Oval, Dunedin by 32 runs.
South Africa 207 all out in 49.5 overs (Marizanne Kapp 42, Laura Wolvaardt 41; Fariha Trisna 3/35, Jahanara Alam 2/28)
Bangladesh 175 all out in 49.3 overs (Sharmin Akhter 34, Nigar Sultana 29; Ayabonga Khaka 4/32, Masabata Klaas 2/36)
Player of the Match: Ayabonga Khaka (South Africa)

Australia’s all-round show prevails against resilient England

The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup provided another thriller in the third match of the tournament between England and Australia that eventually saw the Meg-Lanning side win the match by 12 runs.

Having won the toss, England decided to bowl first. Although wicket-keeper batter Alyssa Healy was dismissed early at 28 runs, the Australian batting line-up put up an excellent batting display to set a mammoth target of 311 thanks to Rachael Haynes’ century and Captain Meg Lanning’s 86-run supporting act.

In spite of a few early hiccups in the chase, England managed to steady the ship due to a resilient Tammy Beaumont (74) and a century by all-rounder Natalie Sciver. The two were supported by captain Heather Knight who contributed 40 runs to the chase. However, Sciver remained unbeaten only for England to fall 12 runs short credit to Alana King’s 3 for 59, supported by Tahlia McGrath and Jess Jonassen’s two wickets apiece.

Australia clung on to defeat England by 12 runs, starting their quest for a seventh ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup title with a nervy win at the Seddon Park in Hamilton on Saturday.

Opener Rachael Haynes’s perfectly played 130 helped Australia set England an imposing 311 to win but a superb batting performance from the defending champions kept them in the hunt for what would have been a great chase.

Opener Tammy Beaumont gave England a chance of chasing down the huge total before leg-spinner Alana King swung the pendulum back Australia’s way. Nat Sciver then produced a stroke-filled century that again threatened to take the game away but the asking rate proved just a little too high in the end overs.

England fell short of a record chase and Australia emerged victorious in another battle for the ages between the old adversaries and what was another engrossing match early in the eight-team tournament.

Australia were sluggish at the start. Alyssa Healy, whose last act at an ICC event was to hit 75 from 36 balls in the T20 World Cup final in 2020, was out for 27 from 32 this time, her reprieve from an lbw dismissal lasting only four balls.

Instead, Sciver would force Healy into sending a shot straight to the hands of Katherine Brunt to leave Australia at 37 from one from the powerplay. Healy had been leading the scoring and despite captain Meg Lanning and her deputy Haynes having over 6,000 ODI runs between them, they struggled to get going.

Their frustration was laid bare when Haynes flailed at a Kate Cross delivery and by luck rather than design it found the gap between two fielders. But a sign of what was to come emerged two balls later when Lanning dispatched a short ball from Cross to the cover point boundary.

Five overs later it was Katherine Brunt’s turn to scowl, as Sophie Ecclestone dropped Lanning in the deep with captain on 27 from 51. Australia then comfortably passed milestones, Lanning’s 18th ODI fifty coming from 75 balls and Haynes’s own half-century from two fewer deliveries.

It was their seventh century partnership together in one-day cricket and their 150 would be brought up not long after as the ruthless Australians smelled blood.

Despite Brunt seeing a review for lbw not given, a calm head prevailed as she rallied her England side while the big screen flashed up the outcome.

She regained her composure only momentarily as in the next over she bowled back-to-back wides before Lanning hit the first six of the game, a beautiful pull shot that sailed over the deep mid-wicket boundary.

Brunt would get revenge of sorts as Lanning had to go after finding Tammy Beaumont at point, the fielder recovering from an injured shoulder the over before to hold on to the forceful shot.

Lanning headed back to the hutch having made 86 from 110 balls and despite Australia being 231 for two with seven overs remaining, the captain knew there was a century to be had.

Haynes would get the job done three balls later, bringing up her second ODI hundred from 115 balls with 11 fours.

Haynes would eventually depart for 130 from 131 balls as she produced a rare mistimed shot and sent the ball to Danni Wyatt in the deep.

Mooney and new batter Ellyse Perry closed out the innings with four fours from seven balls to take the Australian total to 310 for three.

England’s reply got off to the worst possible start, as struggling opener Lauren Winfield-Hill was out for a fourth-ball duck after replays showed Annabel Sutherland took the diving catch cleanly.

Her dismissal brought out the captain Heather Knight and her rebuild alongside Tammy Beaumont, the player of the tournament in 2017, was emphatic.

While the first boundary came 23 balls into the innings, England scored freely, the two experienced batters rotated the strike with ease.

England had introduced spin in the 19th over, but Jess Jonassen came into the attack for Australia with only nine overs gone. Knight showed exactly what she thought of that decision clubbing her over long-off for the first six of the innings.

Another bowling change brought another important moment for England as Tahlia McGrath’s first over saw Tammy Beaumont bring up her 15th ODI fifty, six balls later her 3000th ODI run would be chalked up too.

There would be no milestone for Knight as she fell for 40, caught by Lanning at cover of the bowling of McGrath, England slipping to 92 for two.

The most poignant moment of the game came as leg-spinner and Shane Warne fan Alana King got her first wicket of the evening.

A turning delivery bewitched Beaumont as Healy whipped off the bails, King pointed to the black armband, a tribute to her idol.

Amy Jones would fall to King too before Danni Wyatt was bowled by McGrath for 177 for five to leave England in trouble and Sciver needing to produce a miracle only she would be capable of.

Sophia Dunkley was an able partner until King bowled her for 28 before Katherine Brunt wound back the years as her and fiancée Sciver dreamed the impossible dream.

Sciver’s 100 was brought up off 79 balls with 12 fours with England’s hopes surviving thanks to a straightforward drop from Darcie Brown.

Jonassen was tasked with defending 17 from the final over and produced a remarkable caught and bowled to dismiss Katherine Brunt.

With that England’s hopes were extinguished as the defending champions lost by 12 runs.

Brief scores:

Australia beat England at Seddon Park, Hamilton by 12 runs
Australia 310/3 in 50.0 overs (Rachael Haynes 130, Meg Lanning 86; Nat Sciver 2/68, Katherine Brunt 1/54)
England 298/8 in 50.0 overs (Nat Sciver 108 not out, Tammy Beaumont 74; Alana King 3/59; Tahlia McGrath 2/51)
Player of the Match: Rachael Haynes (Australia)