South Africa women shock India, clinch ODI series
Punam Raut’s ton goes in vain as visitors thrash hosts by seven wickets in the to take 3-1 lead
Lucknow: The South African women’s team’s top-order batters fired in unison and helped their team clinch the five-match series against India with a seven-wicket victory in the fourth ODI here on Sunday.
Chasing 267, Lizelle Lee (69), Laura Wolvaardt (53), Mignon du Preez (61) and Lara Goodall (59 not out) shone as the visitors completed the task in 48.4 overs for an unassailable 3-1 lead in the rubber.
A poor squad selection by new committee under Neetu David cost India dearly as the hosts paid the price for ignoring Shafali Verma’s flair in batting and Shikha Pandey’s experience in bowling. The win meant seasoned Punam Raut’s third ODI hundred and veteran Harmanpreet Kaur’s scintillating 35-ball 54 went in vain. South Africa were in the game when the opening duo of last match centurion Lizelle Lee and skipper Laura Wolvaardt were going great guns, putting on 116 runs in 23 overs.
Mixing caution with aggression, both kept the scorecard moving at a fairly rate until Harmanpreet Kaur effected a having the dangerous Lee trapped in front of the wicket for a 75-ball 69.
Joined by Lara Goodall, Wolvaardt could not stay long enough after Lee’s dismissal, getting out shortly after reaching her half century. Goodall got a life when Sushma Verma missed a stumping and in the next delivery, the batter stepped out and played an inside-out shot for a boundary.
Earlier, the 31-year-old Raut struck 10 boundaries in her unbeaten 104. Harmanpreet smashed seven fours and a six, reaching her half-century in only 33 balls before falling to a slower ball. Soon after, Raut got to her century in 119 balls with a single. Prior to that, Raut added 103 runs for the third wicket with skipper Mithali Raj (45 off 71 balls), who became the only player in women’s cricket to complete 7,000 ODI runs before getting out in the second powerplay.
Failing to make most of a chance she got in the previous over, Mithali drove one in the air for Shabnim Ismail to complete a good running catch.
The century partnership laid the foundation for a challenging total against a South African side that won both their matches in the five-match series while chasing.
After Mithali’s dismissal, Raut joined forces with the flamboyant Harmanpreet to add another 88 runs in quick time. Harmanpreet was in her element straightaway, hitting two boundaries to kick-start her innings. In her inimitable style, the India T20 captain went about playing her strokes as the 200 came up in the 41st over.
Brief Scores: India 266/4 in 50 overs (Punam Raut 104 no, Harmanpreet Kaur 54) lost to South Africa 269/3 in 48.4 overs (Lizelle Lee 69, Mignon du Preeze 61, Lara Goodall 59no, Laura Wovaardt 53).
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .
