Sharjah: England captain Heather Knight hailed the calm heads of batters Nat Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt-Hodge as they floor out a hard-fought victory over South Africa of their ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup fixture at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The pair mixed fantastically on one other tough pitch to haul England in direction of the required complete of 125 after a gradual begin with the bat.
Opener, Wyatt-Hodge, survived the stodgy opening few overs to provide a run-a-ball 43 earlier than ultimately falling within the 18th over with the job all however achieved, whereas Sciver-Brunt posted an unbeaten 48 off 36 balls to steer her facet dwelling.
It leaves England in command of Group B as the one undefeated facet forward of their matches in opposition to Scotland and West Indies, and Knight was happy with the way in which her facet discovered a strategy to win in opposition to the workforce that knocked them out within the semi-final of final 12 months’s event.
“I believe that was a extremely managed win,” she stated. “We managed the center overs once they had been batting and actually restricted them. The pitch was barely higher than the opposite day however we nonetheless thought it was going to be a tough chase. It has been actually powerful to chase right here however I believed we managed that chase brilliantly.
“Nat a cool, calm head in addition to Danni, that partnership was excellent to observe. You may see her [Wyatt-Hodge] getting annoyed on the market. She shouldn’t be used to scoring at a 100 strike-rate. That’s what it will tackle these pitches typically.
“Now we have talked rather a lot about it and simply discovering a method, being actually ruthless with it. She did brilliantly, discovering sensible choices. You possibly can virtually predict what she was going to do within the dugout.
“Her and Nat, that was a correct partnership. They’ve had a couple of collectively however the way in which they managed it, the smartness, the physicality, it was a correct job.”
England additionally benefitted from one other spectacular efficiency at a T20 World Cup from bowler Sophie Ecclestone, who took two for 15 from her 4 overs to limit South Africa within the center overs.
It proved essential as South Africa had been finally unable to get sufficient runs on the board, and Knight was thrilled to see her star bowler carry out on the large stage.
She added: “They’re the form of video games I really like captaining as you are feeling like you may make an actual distinction. The women bowled outstandingly once more. We backed up what we did the opposite evening. Sophie was again to her finest, the way in which she bowled made it actually powerful. She appeared to get a bit of bounce, I don’t know the way, she appears the one one which will get a little bit of bounce on the market. It was a correct efficiency.”
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt additionally highlighted her facet’s center overs with the bat as key to the end result of the competition, as she admitted her facet felt they left runs out within the center after ending on 124 for six.
“We’re clearly very dissatisfied,” she stated. “I believe 10-20 extra runs with the bat might have been attention-grabbing.
“We didn’t take our possibilities within the discipline however the bowlers bowled fairly effectively. We simply should tighten up on the opposite two.”
“Once we began batting, we had been speaking a couple of 140 mark. We had that interval after the powerplay the place we misplaced our method a bit of bit after which had some large hitters are available in in the long run. We might have began {that a} bit earlier.”
Wolvaardt top-scored for her facet with 42 alongside a quickfire 26 from Marizanne Kapp, who additionally impressed with the ball to limit England within the powerplay.
It’s precisely the form of kind her captain hopes she will be able to take into video games in opposition to Bangladesh and Scotland, with South Africa doubtless needing to win each to make sure development.
“I don’t suppose you’ll be able to ask for rather more with the brand new ball,” added Wolvaardt. “The spinners, the management within the center might have been a bit of bit higher however it’s so powerful to bowl to those batters who’ve all of the pictures. It seems like all of them have all of the pictures so it’s tough to set fields.”