Proteas Women hold nerve in final-over thriller to edge Bangladesh

Marizanne Kapp and Chloe Tryon made crucial half-centuries as the Proteas Women beat Bangladesh by three wickets in their ICC Women’s World Cup round-robin clash in Visakhapatnam on Monday.

Chasing 233 for their third consecutive victory, there were plenty of nervous moments on both sides before Kapp (56), Tryon (62) and later a pressure cooker 37 not out from Nadine de Klerk saw SA to victory with just three balls to spare. 

After suffering an embarrassing loss to England in their round-robin opener, Laura Wolvaardt’s team claimed impressive consecutive wins over New Zealand and then hosts India.

The confidence in the Proteas’ camp would have been high and they were in control early on.

But after taking their foot off Bangladesh’s throat, they let it slip and the subcontinent side managed to scramble their way to 232/6.

SA’s chase started disastrously with opener Tazmin Brits presenting a straightforward caught-and-bowled chance to Nahida Akter to be dismissed without scoring off the first ball she faced.

But captain Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch then looked comfortable in posting 55 runs for the second wicket until self-imposed disaster struck.

Wolvaardt and Bosch had a terrible misunderstanding mid-pitch and the skipper was run out for 31.

That triggered a collapse from a position of reasonable strength as the team lost four wickets for the next 20 runs.

At 78/5, the outlook was bleak, but the experience of Kapp and Tryon steadily helped pull their team back into the game with a sixth-wicket stand of 85 in 109 deliveries.

When Kapp departed it was left to Tryon and the in-form Nadine de Klerk to take the team home from a position of 78 to win off 58 balls. 

But there was drama when Tryon became the second run-out victim with 35 runs required from 31, and Masabata Klaas joined De Klerk in the middle.

Having won the game for SA against India, De Klerk was up to the task again and got the job done with some level-headed support from Klaas (10 not out).

Wolvaardt admitted she would have preferred her team to bat first, but she was denied that option when Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana Joty won the toss and chose to take first strike.

Bangladesh had started the tournament with a bang by beating Pakistan, but then their batters let them down in the next two games and they slid to defeats against England and New Zealand.

So, it came as little surprise when their top order adopted a cautious approach to their innings.

Some would have argued it was too cautious as they crawled to 73/2 at the halfway stage of their innings, with SA keeping them on a tight leash.

But the Tigresses would use this platform as a solid launch pad to score 159 more runs in the second 25 overs to post a highly competitive total on a testing surface.

And it was built by solid contributions from Sharmin Akther (50), skipper Joty (32) and a destructive cameo from Shorna Akter.

Whereas Sharmin’s knock came off a watchful 77 balls, aggressive right-hander Shorna blasted 51 in only 35 deliveries.

It was Bangladesh’s fastest-ever half-century in ODI cricket and included three fours and as many sixes.

Left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba eventually had the most success of SA’s bowlers, taking 2/42.

SA next play Sri Lanka on Friday.