The duo of skipper Heather Knight (19* off 28 balls) and Tammy Beaumont (8* off 37 balls) resumed the 3rd day’s play with the visitors England having a healthy lead of 145 and 9 wickets in hand.
The visitors lost the wicket of Tammy Beaumont within the first hour of the 3rd day’s play with Tumi Sekhukhune providing the 2nd breakthrough for South Africa.
Nat Sciver-Brunt carried her confidence from the first innings while she joined skipper Heather Knight at the crease as the duo took their side past the 100-run mark with a crucial 67-run 3rd wicket partnership. The centurion from the first innings played the role of an aggressor in the partnership, taking the lead past the 220-run mark. The young 24-year-old left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba cleaned up Nat Sciver-Brunt (37 off 58 balls) to provide the much-needed 3rd breakthrough for the Proteas.
The visitors, in their bid to score quick runs, lost the wicket of Danielle Wyatt-Hodge, who departed for a run-a-ball knock of 23(23 balls), including four boundaries. Meanwhile, skipper Heather Knight completed her 5th half-century in the red-ball format off 99 balls. Wicket-keeper batter Amy Jones joined skipper Heather Knight at the crease and the pair went unseparated into the lunch break with an unbeaten 5th wicket partnership worth 27 runs and England at 167/4 in 49 overs with a lead nearing the 300-run mark.
Soon after the lunch break, Mlaba broke the 42-run 5th wicket stand by picking up her 2nd wicket of the day, sending wicket-keeper batter Amy Jones (24 off 32 balls) back to the pavilion in the 56th over of the innings. Charlie Dean soon followed her back to the pavilion to provide the 6th breakthrough for South Africa.
Sophie Ecclestone joined skipper Heather Knight at the crease and the England skipper switched gears as the pair stitched a 36-run partnership at a brisk rate to take the lead closer to the 340-run mark. Mlaba completed her maiden five-wicket haul in the red-ball format for South Africa by dismissing Sophie Ecclestone (16 off 23 balls) and the opposition skipper Heather Knight (90 off 191 balls) in quick succession. The England skipper fell just 10 runs short of her 3rd century in the red-ball format.
England were eventually bundled out for 236 in 74.1 overs with a lead of 350. Nonkululeko Mlaba returned with a 6-wicket haul (26-4-67-6) in her spell in their 2nd innings with the ball for South Africa. She also became the first South African to take a 10-wicket haul in a women’s Test match, returning with match figures of 46-6-157-10.
Chasing a massive total of 351 in the 4th innings of a Test match, South Africa lost both their openers, including the wicket of their skipper Laura Wolvaardt in the first six overs of the run chase, and the Tea break was taken. Even after the tea interval, the Proteas needed to show composure as they ended up collapsing like a pack of nine pins.
The home side folded for just 64 inside the first 20 overs of the innings, their lowest total in a women’s Test match, their previous one (76) also came this year against Australia at Perth. As a result of a horrible collapse, hosts South Africa fell 286 runs short of the target. Lauren Bell (9-4-27-4) triggered the collapse, with Sophie Ecclestone (4.4-3-7-2), and Lauren Filer (5-3-12-1) also playing their part with the ball for England.
Marizanne Kapp (21 off 28 balls), and Nonkululeko Mlaba (14 off 9 balls) were the only two South African batters to get into the double digits in a tall run chase.
Lauren Bell was awarded the Player of the Match for her sensational spell with the ball (22-6-76-8) in the game as England secured their first victory in a Women’s Test Match after more than 10 years.
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