A totally different approach to batting on the low, slow wicket at Sharjah carried England through to a vital win over their main Group B rivals, South Africa. It may have gone to the final over, but it felt like England were always in control, managing the chase with precision.
South Africa 124-6 v England 125-3 #T20WC
— CRICKETher (@crickether.bsky.social) 2024-10-07T16:54:50.217Z
Batting first versus Bangladesh on Saturday, England made 118 – on paper a very similar total to today’s 125 runs – but they were such different runs. Against Bangladesh, England looked to drive everything, and eschewed the sweep shots that have been such a productive, trademark area for them in recent years. Just 13% of England’s runs against Bangladesh were scored backward of square – and in so-doing they made it all look like very hard work.
Today’s approach was totally the opposite: 43% of their runs scored behind square. On the scorecard that meant 42 runs scored to fine leg/ square leg, compared with just 11 versus Bangladesh; and suddenly batting looked a lot easier. Of course, it was a different wicket, but it wasn’t like they had suddenly relocated to Derby – it was still essentially the same conditions, but a whole new approach adopted.
Marizanne Kapp kept things quiet in the powerplay, pulling two maidens out of the bag; but then Alice Capsey, helped by coming in at her more natural position of 3 rather than 5, gave England’s chase the little jolt they needed with a quick cameo of 19 off 16 balls, pulling out that sweep shot for a couple of boundaries early in her innings. Capsey’s impetus got the run rate up to within touching distance of where it needed to be, and England were able to keep it there as Nat Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt worked the gaps and ran hard.
Acknowledging that boundaries were going to be tough to find, they poked the ball into the pockets with the metronomic regularity of a snooker player potting red after red. For those who remember the glory-days of snooker in the 1980s, it was more Steve “Boring” Davis than Alex “Hurricane” Higgins, but it bears remembering that Davis won 6 World Championships, whilst Higgins won just 2.
With 4 overs left, England still needed a run a ball; but Kapp was bowled-out by that point, and though they lost Danni Wyatt off the last ball of the 18th over, it didn’t affect their momentum in any way, partly because Heather Knight faced just 1 ball, taking a leg-bye off de Klerk, leaving NSB to finish what she’d started at the other end, potting the final black with 4 deliveries to spare.
Earlier, England had delivered an efficient bowling performance to restrict the South Africans to 124.
South Africa 124-6 v England 125-3 #T20WC
— CRICKETher (@crickether.bsky.social) 2024-10-07T16:55:15.100Z
The middle overs were where South Africa let themselves get behind the game a little bit, particularly overs 7-11 as Anneke Bosch delivered the finest masterclass in anti-nominative-determinism since former Conservative cabinet minister James Cleverly – struggling to bosh anything much at all. It was a barely disguised blessing for South Africa when Bosch failed to get bat on an attempted ramp, and Kapp was able to come in and get things going for South Africa, making a quick 26 at a strike rate of 150, before Annerie Dercksen added an even more handy 20 not out off 11 at the end.
Dercksen hasn’t had much opportunity to show what she can do with the bat for South Africa – she has played 15 T20s now, and has only batted in 7 of them. But in those 7, she is averaging 22 at a strike rate of over 140, and there is definitely a case that she should be coming in above Chloe Tryon, who wasted 5 precious balls for 2 runs at a crucial point in the game. Had Dercksen faced those deliveries, and South Africa put another 10 on the board… who knows?
As it was, the result put England in pole position in Group B and means that South Africa really can’t afford a slip-up now – if they win both their remaining games (v Scotland and Bangladesh) they should be okay, but there is actually one scenario where even if they win both those games they don’t qualify, so they may end up cheering for England in their last match v West Indies, should it come down to it!
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