South Africa Women 273 for 9 (Lee 92, van Niekerk 57, Pandey 3-40) beat India Women 158 (Deepti 60, van Niekerk 4-22)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dane van Niekerk has eight wickets from two matches in Leicester this tournament © ICC
Dane van Niekerk returned to the venue of her history-making spell against West Indies to produce a performance par excellence, with bat and ball, to demolish India in Leicester.
On a dry and mostly placid track, the South Africa captain used flight, drift and, for large parts lack of turn, to rip through to finish with 4 for 22 off her 10 overs. That spell was the full stop to India’s ambitions of pulling off the third highest chase in Women’s ODIs. In the end, they fell short of the target of 274 by 115 runs and might well rue their decision to bowl first at the toss.
Mithali Raj, who had made that call, came into the match needing 34 runs to becoming the highest run-scorer in Women’s ODIs. She arrived at the crease with India on 47 for 2 but, after misjudging a straighter one, was bowled for her first ever golden duck. Van Niekerk had won the battle of the captains, her legspin sparked a collapse as India slipped from 47 for 1 to 65 for 7 and best of all, she had ensured South Africa stayed in the running for a semi-final spot.
Lizelle Lee‘s innings played a large part in things turning out the way they did. She smacked a brutal 92 off 65 balls with seven sixes – the third time she has struck as many – to lead South Africa to an imposing total. It was well beyond anything India had chased down in ODIs.
More to follow
Akshay Gopalakrishnan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo