Going into Saturday’s series decider at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, the series is level at 1-1 as the Proteas Women followed up their loss in the first One-Day International in East London with a commanding eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Potchefstroom.
The batting improved significantly at the JB Marks Oval on Wednesday night as the top four, Tazmin Brits, Laura Wolvaardt, Anneke Bosch and Suné Luus, took responsibility and carried South Africa over the line.
Bosch (65 not out) and Luus (47 not out) finished unbeaten in the successful 224-run chase, with Bosch earning the Player-of-the-Match award.
However, it was the 106-run stand between openers Wolvaardt (54) and Brits (50) that set the game up for the hosts.
“(Having a solid foundation from the openers) helps a lot. You feel a bit more at ease, there’s a little less pressure on you,” said Bosch, who batted at No 3 in the second ODI.
“You can take time and get yourself in, there’s no need to panic. That was the difference from the two games.
“Unfortunately, we could not stick it through or see it through to the end in the first game, so we were quite disappointed with that.
“We were happy we could stick around in the second ODI, stay there until the end and win the game.
“The most important thing was for me and Suné to build a partnership after Wolfie (captain Wolvaardt) went out because it was similar in the first game, when we lost two quick wickets in a row.
“But in the second ODI, we were in a better position in terms of runs on the board. The most important thing was to stick around as long possible to take the ones and rotate the strike.”
Bangladesh were also impressive on the batting front as opening batter Fargana Hoque led from the front with a century in their innings of 222-4 in 50 overs, which indicates the hosts’ bowling performance was not the best – although Marizanne
Kapp claimed 2-21 in nine overs.
Bosch reckons they can get the bowling right tomorrow in Benoni (2pm start), and improve on the batting and the fielding as the series is on the line.
“We can still do better in all three departments, and now we’ve played two games, the one game the batting was really bad and in the second, we picked up on that. Bowling-wise, it was better in the second ODI, but I think it can still get better,” she said.
“Going to Benoni, we have things to still improve on in all three disciplines. We were pretty disappointed with the first game, and the points we are playing for are very important for us. We don’t want to take any game or any team lightly.
“There’s still a lot to play for – I mean, the series is on the line – but we’ll be looking to get another couple of points in the next game.”
IOL Sport