South Africa ‘s tour of Australia kicked off on the 27th of January, 2024, with the visitors suffering their 8th defeat in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) against the home team from as many games. However, in less than 24 hours, in the 2nd T20I, the resilient South African side etched history.
Skipper Alyssa Healy, winning the toss, opted to bat and strode to the middle alongside Beth Mooney. Despite a steady 27-run start, Mooney (13 off 12) fell victim to a run-out after a near-miss catch by Masabata Klaas. Tahlia McGrath partnered with Healy, and as McGrath settled into her innings, Healy accelerated, accumulating boundaries effortlessly before being dismissed for 29(24) by Klaas.
Ellyse Perry and McGrath formed a 26-run partnership, concluding with McGrath’s departure on 23(28). Australia lost wickets in quick succession, including Phoebe Litchfield (2 off 5) and Perry (18 off 19), leaving them at 94/5 in the 15th over. Ashleigh Gardner and Grace Harris added 16 runs before the former fell for 10(8). Harris added 18 runs to the tally in the final over and finished unbeaten on 31*(18), supported by Georgia Wareham (8*), guiding Australia to a respectable total of 142.
Klaas led the wickets tally with two, followed by Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk, and Nonkululeko Mlaba, each securing a wicket.
South Africa beat Australia to level the T20I series 1-1.
Laura Wolvaardt led from the front scoring 58* (53)#CricketTwitter #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/uLQtOruWx4
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 28, 2024
In response, South Africa’s Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt provided a fiery start, with Brits particularly aggressive, while the latter settled into her innings. The 50-run stand was up in the 7th over, but McGrath’s crucial wicket of Brits on 41(28) [4s × 8] slowed South Africa’s momentum. The pair of Wolvaardt and Kapp steadied the innings with a valuable 34-run partnership until Gardner dismissed Kapp for 20(18).
A wicket brought another as Sune Luus in the following over departed on 1(2), leaving Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch to steer South Africa toward victory. Bosch had a brief stay, being dismissed off the last ball of the 18th over with 131 on board for South Africa.
Fittingly, Wolvaardt’s consecutive boundaries, followed by Chloe Tryon’s boundary, secured a historic victory for South Africa with an over and 6 wickets to spare. Wolvaardt finished unbeaten on 58*(53), while Tryon contributed 4*(2). Gardner led Australia’s bowling with two wickets, while Megan Schutt and McGrath claimed one each.
The two teams have been playing against each other since 1997 and following 15 One-Day Internationals and 8 T20I face-offs, South Africa for the first time ever defeated Australia.
HISTORIC WIN for 🇿🇦 after 8 straight losses. #CricketTwitter #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/EKC54N6AmR
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 29, 2024
Reacting to the landmark win, Laura Wolvaardt stated,
“It’s very special for us … we’ve got a lot of new young players in the side and to have this new dynamic young team beating the world champs is very special. It’s something that hopefully can change our mindset and hopefully the voodoo is a bit broken now and we can beat them on a more regular basis.”