South Africa women 207 for 7 (Lee 60, Wolvaardt 52, Yousuf 2-30) beat Pakistan women 206 for 8 (Nahida 79, Daniels 2-21, Ismail 2-52) by three wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Shabnim Ismail roars after hitting the winning boundary © International Cricket Council
South Africa had only won four out of 30 ODIs in which they had to chase 200 or more. But victory looked a mere formality on Sunday when Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt, their openers, put on 113 in chase of 207. Then, out of nowhere, they lost five wickets for 38 runs, three of them to run outs, to induce panic. The cruise had turned into a full-blown collapse with Pakistan gleefully tightening the noose.
It came down to the No. 9 batsman Shabnim Ismail, who had a poor day with the ball, conceding 52 off her nine overs for two wickets – expensive when taken into account the low-scoring contest, to reintroduce the calm back into South Africa’s chase as she hit back-to-back fours to clinch a three-wicket win with an over to spare. Sune Luus contributed 15 valuable runs to an unbroken 30-run stand for the eighth wicket to deliver the knockout blow for Pakistan, whose wait for a win in a World Cup match is into its eighth year.
All the tension began in the middle overs of the chase. Nashra Sandhu, who took nine wickets in five matches in the qualifying tournament to put Pakistan in the World Cup, bowled with immaculate control, conceding only 32 runs in a single spell of 10 overs. Then, Sadia Yousuf, who dropped a straightforward catch at long-off to reprieve Lee on 46, picked up the big wickets of Chloe Tryon and Mignon du Preez as Pakistan brought themselves back to life.
With the equation down to 16 off 12 balls, Sana Mir, the captain who had one over left, punted on Kainat Imtiaz, who had conceded 40 off seven overs until that point. Ayesha Zafar put down a tough chance at mid-off, the ball went to the boundary, South Africa sneaked home and Mir, who had been Pakistan’s most economical bowler with 1 for 27 off nine overs, was left to rue the crucial decision.
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Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo