3rd T20I – Pakistan v South Africa
Multan Cricket Stadium, 20 September
South Africa 154/2 (18.3) beat Pakistan 153/5 (20.0) by 8 wickets
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2023 – South Africa’s victory in the 3rd T20I at Multan sealed their first series win in the format since the tri-series against West Indies and India that preceded the previous World Cup in February 2023. Since finishing as runners up in that home World Cup, the Proteas women had played six bilateral T20I series before this tour of Pakistan, losing three and drawing three.
South Africa’s last bilateral series win in the format before today had been during their tour of Ireland in June 2022.
154 – This was South Africa women’s joint fifth highest successful T20I run chase, and their highest since 2021. The target was the highest the Proteas have chased down for the loss of two wickets or less. Their previous best in those terms was an 8 wicket win when chasing 136 against West Indies at Tarouba in 2018.
154 was also a new record women’s T20I chase in Pakistan, beating the host’s two successes chasing targets of 151 against South Africa at Karachi during their previous tour in 2023 (a series the Proteas lost 3-0).
44* – Annerie Dercksen was named player of the match after she blitzed her way to a new international career best. Dercksen scored more runs in this innings (44) than she had in her previous eight innings for South Africa in all formats combined (37). Sealing victory with a commanding four, Dercksen finished with the second highest strike rate for an innings of 40+ runs by a South African woman in a T20I:
- 193.54 Lizelle Lee 60 (31) v PAK at Benoni, 2019
- 191.30 Annerie Dercksen 44* (23) v PAK at Multan, 2024
- 183.78 Lizelle Lee 68 (37) v ENG at Taunton, 2018
- 182.75 Suné Luus 53* (29) v PAK at Multan, 2024
46* – Anneke Bosch’s innings was her highest T20I score in Asia since 2021, and her highest score in the format against Pakistan.
45.73 – Since being made captain, Laura Wolvaardt (45) has scored 686 runs in seventeen T20I innings at an average of 45.73 and a strike rate of 127.03, compared with 1,079 runs in 49 innings at 30.82 and 109.10 before being made skipper.
81* – Bosch and Wolvaardt’s 2nd wicket partnership was the second highest stand in a women’s T20I run chase in Pakistan.
3 – The efforts of Bosch, Wolvaardt and Dercksen made this the first time that three South African women have scored forty or more runs in the same T20I, and the first run chase by any side in the format to feature three individual scores of 40+.
6 – The Proteas’ five sixes in this match were the third most they have hit in a T20I run chase, and their overall tally of ten sixes across the three games in Multan was their second best for a series of this length.
4.50 rpo – Once a regular bowler who has struggled with that discipline in recent years, Suné Luus (4-0-18-1) delivered her full quota of overs in a T20I for the first time since February 2023, and her most economical set of 4.0 overs in the format since February 2020.
157.81 – Fatima Sana played another dynamic innings of 27 off 17 balls, and finished with the highest strike rate for any Pakistani woman to have scored 75 or more runs in a T20I series or tournament. Aliya Riaz finished third on the same list:
- 157.81 Fatima Sana 101 runs v SA, 2024
- 152.38 Nida Dar 192 runs v SA, 2019
- 142.59 Aliya Riaz 77 runs v SA, 2024
- 141.58 Bismah Maroof 143 runs at Asia Cup, 2018
#5 – Fatima Sana (37*, 37*, 27) also became the first woman in T20I history to make scores of 25+ runs in every match of a three-match series when batting at #5 or lower.
7.67 rpo – The overall run-rate for the series was the highest for a women’s T20I series played in Pakistan. This was also the first women’s T20I series staged in Pakistan to feature five totals of 150+ runs.
Stats derived from ESPNcricinfo statsguru.
