Women’s World Cup: Nadine De Klerk takes South Africa home again

And just like that, chasing 233, South Africa dug themselves out of a hole once again to register a hat-trick of wins and continue their charge to the semifinals. For Bangladesh, it represented another heartbreak; they had England down to the exact same score as South Africa on Monday– 78/5 – and they were unable to complete what would have been a massive upset.

For the most part, Bangladesh vs South Africa was like watching a rerun of the match last Thursday at the same venue in Visakhapatnam between India and South Africa. A young batter (Shorna this time, Richa Ghosh the other night) went on a late charge with some stunning clean strikes as South African bowlers struggled in the death overs. Tazmin Brits fell for a duck, caught and bowled. South Africa lost half their side around the 80-run mark. A partnership for the sixth-wicket between one of South Africa’s top batters and Tryon. And then Nadine de Klerk applied the finishing touches.

“Yeah, it was quite familar,” Tryon said with a smile in the post-match chat as she was named player of the match, reiterating what South Africa planned for the other day. Take it deep and believe that 75-80 runs in the last 10 overs was achievable. So it proved to be.

That narrative arc also spoke of South Africa’s familiarity with the conditions in Vizag, having taken the run-chase deep against India and coming up with a confidence-boosting win. On the other hand, Bangladesh had a plan – it appeared to be a good one for a long time – that ultimately came undone because of their decision at the toss. Nigar Sultana Joty was confident in opting to bat first as that suited their strength. Try and put up a decent total on board and then let their spin-heavy bowling attack try and defend it. But both the previous matches at ACA-VDCA Stadium in Vizag were won by teams chasing, with dew setting in late on and making life difficult for the bowling side. In theory, Bangladesh’s strategy was sound but it failed the practical test.

Nigar Sultana Joty defended the call in the post-match press conference, saying chasing was simply not working out for her side and having runs on the board was the only way she could see a pathway for a Bangladesh win. And to that end, after 30 overs, Bangladesh were 100/2 – for most teams, those are not great numbers, but for Joty’s side, it marked their best start to the tournament. It gave them the platform to push beyond 200, and 18-year-old Shorna’s 35 off 51 balls with three crisply hit sixes.

South Africa would have believed the game was on their side but they made their own lives difficult too. Laura Wolvaardt was looking in good touch but was run out as she and Anneke Bosch were not on different pages, but different books in different libraries as the captain was run out. Bosch fell two deliveries later as well. Marizanne Kapp, however, steadied the ship with Tryon. The latter’s run out added another twist to the tale, but De Klerk made sure she was there at the end. Deja vu in Vizag.