Key events
4th over: South Africa 28-0 (Wolvaardt 15, Brits 12) Sciver-Brunt returns and the pace is to the delight of Wolvaardt, who muscles a pull shot through midwicket for four. This is turning into a very good start for the Proteas, four singles here on top of the boundary.
3rd over: South Africa 20-0 (Wolvaardt 9, Brits 10) Charlie Dean’s turn. Aside from Sciver-Brunt it’ll be all spin tonight, with Dean the off spin option for Heather Knight. Super accurate and able to alter her pace from ball to ball, she’s going to be a handful on these surfaces. Three dots are followed by a cut for a couple by Brits. That shot prompts an overcorrection, too straight to finish and swept behind square for four. Six from the over doesn’t feel like loads but every run-a-ball over is a win on these slow pitches.
2nd over: South Africa 14-0 (Wolvaardt 9, Brits 4) The call to prayer goes out as the sun starts to set in Sharjah. Over number two will be Linsey Smith. England’s left-arm spinner was great against Bangladesh, especially early. But Wolvaardt makes room first ball, enough to crunch her through cover for four – top shot. Smith finds her range soon enough. As Lydia Greenway notes on telly, Smith’s story is an important one, forcing her way back into this side in her late 20s after spending the last five years in the wilderness after initially playing at the T20 World Cup back in 2018. It speaks volumes about how strong the England domestic system has become that she’s had the chance to bounce back into the side at this stage of her career, now at the peak of her powers. She sneaks past Brits’ inside edge later in the over, prompting a leg before shout, but it’s sliding past the leg stump and they elect not to review. Eight from the over.
1st over: South Africa 6-0 (Wolvaardt 4, Brits 1) Lovely shot first ball of the match, Wolvaardt using what pace there is to steer behind point for three; complete control. Ooh, dropped catch next up with Knight, back at first slip with Jones up to the stumps, unable to drag it in moving to her right. Not an easy chance; Brits gets a life right away. NSB misses down the legside but then gets back on target soon enough, so much so that Brits is nearly bowled shouldering arms! An eventful first over comes to an end.
Nat Sciver-Brunt has the new ball. England’s one seamer. She’s up against Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits with Amy Jones up to the stumps right away. PLAY!
Here come the players. Out to the middle for the national anthems, set to the ICC anthem, which is now a thing – seriously. South Africa’s anthem has to be right at the top of the tree from those used by international cricket teams – certainly those that make it to World Cups on a regular basis. They’re belting it out. The Proteas have been so close in these global tournaments over the last few years. If they can get up here, and set up a semi-final against Anyone But Australia, they’ll be in great shape once again.
The scores in the first innings at Sharjah so far in this comp: 119-7, 116, 93-7, 118-7.
With that framing, we go out to the pitch report with Nat Germanos. She tells us that it is 36 degrees outside and that they’re using a strip that makes one boundary a fraction shorter square of the wicket. Lisa Sthlaker reinforces that it’ll be spin to win out there.
England: Maia Bouchier, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight (c), Alice Capsey, Amy Jones (wk), Danielle Gibson, Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Linsey Smith.
South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, Anneke Bosch, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Sinolo Jafta (wk), Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayabonga Khaka.
South Africa have won the toss and have elected to bat
Runs on the board and all that. Heather Knight says she would’ve batted first too had she won the toss. Laura Wolvaardt is asked what she wants her team to improve upon. “Everything.” There you go. Of greater interest, both teams are unchanged.
Preamble
Adam Collins
Good afternoon. Welcome to some Group B action from the T20 Women’s World Cup in the UAE. Today we’re down the Sharjah end of the freeway for a fixture that may not necessarily dictate which team advanced from England and South Africa – all things being equal, both should – but as importantly, who avoids Australia in the semi.
For the Proteas, they stitched together the most impressive performance of the tournament so far, putting away the Windies by ten wickets. England, who are the favourites to top the group, were less impressive with the bat but never gave Bangladesh a chance with their four-pronged spin attack making the most of the slow surface. Expect the same today on that front with run-a-ball scores the objective.
We’re not far from the toss – I’ll be back for that, and the teams, at 2:30pm BST with the first ball 3pm. Stay in touch through the game: write me a line or drop me a tweet.