I woke up at 5am this morning full of excitement for a day I’d been looking forward to for months – I refer, of course, to the release of the new Taylor Swift album Life of a Showgirl on which the American singer reflects that “oftentimes it doesn’t feel so glamorous to be me”.
I know how you feel Tay! Like… one time back in 2017, I was one of a handful of people schlepping up to oh-so-not-very-glamorous Leicester to watch a Women’s World Cup match between South Africa and West Indies. And let’s put it this way – it wasn’t one of the fixtures everyone was clamouring to cover!
Nonetheless, it turned out to be one of the most memorable matches of the tournament – South Africa bowling West Indies out for 48 on their way to one of the fastest victories in World Cup history, winning with 262 balls to spare.
Appropriately, I was wearing my official 2017 World Cup press polo today, to watch from the sofa as South Africa were again involved in a low-scoring mugging; but this time the boot was on England’s foot, and South Africa were the victims.
England will have been mightily relieved to win the toss and have the opportunity to insert South Africa – there has been big pressure on the team batting first in the opening matches of this World Cup, and we’ve seen wobbles from both India (124-6 at one stage) and Australia (128-5) already this week, whilst Pakistan were skittled for 129.
With Nat Sciver-Brunt having admitted in the pre-match press conference that she wasn’t going to be able to bowl 10 overs, somewhat contradicting what coach Charlotte Edwards had said the day before, England’s selections were driven partly by the need to find some extra overs from somewhere, meaning Alice Capsey and Emma Lamb getting the nod over Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who to be fair has some decent experience running drinks in India, having spent an entire WPL doing it for UP Warriorz in 2024!
But neither Capsey nor Lamb were required, with either bat or ball, as South Africa imploded in the 30° heat of Guwahati.
After a bit of a loosener of an opening over from Lauren Bell, Linsey Smith picked up the ball at the other end, and within two deliveries she had South Africa in trouble. Natalie Germanos on comms called it “the big wicket”, because… that’s what she always says! But on this occasion she was right, with captain Laura Wolvaardt being the first dismissal – a classic Linsey Smith Caught & Bowled.
In her following over, Smith took another – Tazmin Brits, bowled by a drifting quicker delivery that ended up somewhere between an arm-ball and an inswinger.
By the time the 3rd wicket fell, leaving South Africa in what looked like real trouble at 17-3, Charlie Dean was not so much celebrating in the England huddle as shaking her head in disbelief, whilst I texted a friend that South Africa must have been wishing they had selected Tumi Sekhukhune so they could just send her in to block out the next 45 overs.
The wobble was well and truly happening, as it had for both India and Australia; but unlike those two, South Africa could not pull out of the skid they were in. One by one, they fell, mostly to pretty basic bowling – simply bringing the stumps into play, and letting the ever-increasing pressure do the hard work.
Only Sinalo Jafta (22) made it to double-figures, and she should have been stumped by Amy Jones on 8 – a relatively straightforward chance, of the sort which you’d generally expect Jones to be taking in her sleep.
It was one of two or three mistakes from the England keeper, who for the first time since she took the gloves following the retirement of Sarah Taylor, might be starting to feel some selection pressure, at least in terms of her keeping, with the brilliant form of Rhianna Southby. Southby was always capable of moments of brilliance, but is now backing them up with the more bread-and-butter sustained spells of competence which you need from a keeper in 50 over cricket – hence her “selection” as a non-travelling reserve for this tournament.
In the end, South Africa were bowled out for 73. It was 25 more than West Indies had made in Leicester that day in 2017, but I don’t suppose that even if it occurred to any of them (and several of them were there that day, including Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp) it was much consolation. Oftentimes it doesn’t feel so glamorous to be South Africa, and this time was one of those times.
Having got themselves into the position they did, it was important for England to go out and back up the bowling with a 10-wicket win, as South Africa had done in 2017. There were obviously a few nerves, and Marizanne Kapp threatened to make it interesting with her usual fire. England didn’t go particularly hard, and in terms of runs scored, the teams were even-stevens at the end of the powerplay – England on 39 where South Africa had been 38; although of course the difference was that South Africa had lost 5 wickets!
In what could turn out to be a critical moment in England’s progress through this tournament, Amy Jones was dropped by Masabata Klaas off her own bowling, just as she was looking to accelerate. Jones is a Confidence Player and if she’d gone then, there could have been ramifications well beyond this match; but she went on to finish strongly on 40* hitting back-to-back 4s off Ayabonga Khaka as England reached for the… well, it is hard to call 73 “the stars”, but you can only chase the total you are chasing, and England will be heading now into a run of (theoretically!) easier games against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan with some momentum behind them.
