On Thursday, South Africa and West Indies locked horns against each other in the 23rd match of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl in the match that was reduced to 26 overs a side due to rain.
Batting first, South Africa posted 4-61 in 10.5 overs before rain interrupted the game again. West Indies got rid of South Africa’s prolific opening batter Laura Wolvaardt (3 runs off 4 balls) in just the second over of the match. Prior to this match, Wolvaardt had registered four consecutive half-centuries in this World Cup. However, West Indies got the better of her to cause problems to the Proteas. After the departure of Wolvaardt, the other three batters, including Lizelle Lee (9 runs off 11 balls), Tazmin Brits (1 run off 8 balls) and captain Sune Luus (1 run off 3 balls) made a beeline to the pavilion. South Africa were struggling at 4-22 in 5.3 overs. Later, Mignon du Preez and Marizanne Kapp came together to hold the South African fort as the duo stitched an unbeaten partnership of 39 runs for the fifth wicket to bail their team out. When things were looking better for South Africa, it started pouring again at the Basin Reserve and the umpires asked the players to leave the field. As the rain refused to stop, the match was abandoned.
West Indies were on top against South Africa today and were looking to win this.
They would be very disappointed with the result.#CWC22 #TeamWestIndies pic.twitter.com/OYAbFfxQaT
— Female Cricket #CWC22 (@imfemalecricket) March 24, 2022
For West Indies, the right-arm medium-pace duo of Shamilia Connell and Chinelle Henry opened the bowling and exploited the conditions well. They broke the backbone of South African batting with four quick wickets to put the opposition in all sorts of trouble. Henry was the pick of the bowlers as she scalped 3-19 in five overs, while Connell bowled well in tandem with her to account for 1-18 in four overs.
🇿🇦South Africa becomes 2nd team to Qualify for Semi-Finals after Australia#CWC22 #TeamSouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/trcqJUPW7C
— Female Cricket #CWC22 (@imfemalecricket) March 24, 2022
With the South Africa-West Indies match producing no result, both the teams shared one point each. With a total of nine points in their kitty, South Africa have become the second team after Australia to qualify for the semi-finals. On the other hand, with seven points in the bank, West Indies are at the number three position in the points table. West Indies have played all their seven league games and their qualification to the semi-finals will be dependent on South Africa-India result as well as on England’s results against Pakistan and Bangladesh.
South Africa will play their next match on March 27 against India. This will be the last league match of this edition of ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.
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I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.