SA-W vs IND-W: Laura Wolvaardt haunts India again as South Africa close series with 23-run win

South Africa women beat India women by 23 runs in the fifth T20I on Monday, April 27 at Willowmoore Park, Benoni to seal the series 4-1. Captain Laura Wolvaardt once again led her team from the front with a magnificent innings to help them post a good score of 155/6 in their 20 overs.

In reply, India were restricted to 132/8 in their 20 overs as Nonkululeko Mlaba (2/15) and Nadine de Klerk (2/36) scalped two wickets each. Earlier in the day, South Africa once again got off to a good start by openers Sune Luus (23 off 23) and captain Wolvaardt, who added 75 runs for the first wicket off 54 balls.

After Shree Charani (2/22) got Luus stumped to get the first strike for India, South Africa suffered a collapse as they were reduced to 124/6 in 17.5 overs. Wolvaardt brought up her half-century off 30 balls and kept the scoreboard moving with her majestic strokes to help them post a fighting score.

In the second innings, India’s chase never got going as Shafali Verma (4 off 5) and Jemimah Rodrigues (1 off 4) were removed cheaply. Anushka Sharma (17 off 21) also failed to get going, leaving India reeling at 38/3 in 7.3 overs.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur (22 off 28) and Bharati Fulmali (40 off 30) tried steadying the ship with a 38-run stand off 29 balls. However, following their dismissals, only Richa Ghosh (25* off 15) showed some fight as the Women in Blue lost by 23 runs.

Top run-scorer of the Match

Top wicket-taker of the Match

Player of the Match

Laura Wolvaardt was adjudged Player of the Match for her brilliant innings that guided South Africa to a fighting score. She was also adjudged Player of the Series for finishing as the leading run scorer of the series with 330 runs to her name from five innings at an average of 82.50.

Turning Point

India seemed to be heading towards the target comfortably, being 76/3 in 12,1 overs with captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Bharti Fulmali at the crease. However, Nonkululebo ended up breaking their partnership as Harmanpreet got caught while trying to go for a maximum. Her wicket became the turning point of the match as the remaining batters capitulated in the run chase.

What did the captains say:

Winning Captain, Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa Women):  

Very happy. Coming off a tough time in NZ, to turn it around at home is very nice. Obviously, home conditions, won all the tosses, so had a few things going in my way. But yeah, a bit of a tough wicket today, up and down bounce. I think that power play again was pretty crucial. I like sort of how aggressive we've been in the power plays. I think it's been awesome and sort of sets us up for the innings. So yeah, hopefully it continues. It's normally a pretty flat wicket, but yeah, right at the end of the season, we thought it might be a bit low and slow. Also haven't been bowling first the whole series, so just wanted to try it out. It was the right wicket to bat first as well. I think it was a good decision. It looked pretty tough to bat second when the ball was just bouncing a bit funny and holding a bit. Always things to look at and improve. Fielding is one of them. I don't think we had a game where we took all our catches. Overall very happy with the improvements in the last couple of months. Been a very good season for us. Crazy to see how many people are at the games these days. The vibe is absolutely awesome. And the crowd again was massive today. So thank you to everyone who came out to support.

Losing Captain, Harmanpreet Kaur (India Women):

Disappointing for us. More than that, wanted to give opportunities to all our players. Good that we've done that. We did well in patches today. In batting, the powerplay was something which cost us. Didn't get too many runs and lost two wickets. Lots of positives and learnings for us. Need to sit together as a group and think how to move forward. They have a very good team. Now we know all their plans - how they're batting and bowling. Need to keep working hard. Fans have been amazing.