South Africa Women vs Australia Women Match 3 Full Commentary

Welcome back for the run chase. The umpires and the players are out in the middle. The good sign for South Africa Women is that Sune Luus is padded up and is ready to open up with Laura Wolvaardt. Sophie Molineux to start with the new ball for the Aussies. Let's go...

... THE RUN CHASE ...

How might the surface play in the chase? Julia Price is inspecting the pitch at the halfway mark in this contest and reports that the light roller is being rolled in to get a bit of life into the pitch. Informs that it kept low from the James Anderson end and points out that Ismail particularly wasn't able to generate enough bounce from this end. Reckons that chasing 173 on a slow and low pitch is going to be a tough gig against the pacers with the spinners also expected to play a key role later on.

Disciplined Proteas bowling - South Africa's bowling unit put on a highly disciplined performance for most of the contest, refusing to let the game slip away. Nonkululeko Mlaba, Nadine De Klerk and Ayabonga Khaka led the charge with two wickets each, while the rest of the attack chipped in with a wicket apiece, barring Chloe Tryon, who went wicketless. While this target is not overly massive, it remains deeply challenging. The Proteas boast a formidable batting line-up, but face an elite Australian bowling attack that possesses the world-class quality to defend any total.

A quick word from Phoebe Litchfield - On her approach with the bat, she says facing two world-class bowlers meant she couldn't afford to let them dictate, so she looked to attack them. On whether playing here before helps, she feels the wicket played nicely, even though they lost a couple of early wickets, adding she had good memories from playing The Hundred at this ground. About the total, she calls it really competitive, noting the pitch is playing a few tricks. She praises Mlaba's bowling and backs Australia's own spinners to do their job, adding that with a good batting effort behind them, it's now about bowling and fielding well to defend the total.

Middle-order rebuild - The momentum shifted quickly just after the Powerplay when Litchfield departed immediately after raising a brilliant half-century, and the Aussies suffered a double blow by losing Ashleigh Gardner in quick succession. Georgia Wareham then walked out to join a determined Perry, and the duo counter-attacked with a fighting 58-run partnership that pushed Australia into a highly commanding position. Both Perry and Wareham registered valuable contributions in the 30s to back up Litchfield's top score of 50. Despite a decent finish, Australia might feel they left a few runs out on the field as the regular fall of wickets repeatedly halted their charge toward a massive total.

Phoebe's Powerplay blitz - Australia Women finished their 20 overs with a competitive score of 172/8 on the board, largely built on an explosive start from their young opener. By the end of the Powerplay, the Aussies raced to 52 for 2, with Phoebe Litchfield doing the absolute bulk of the damage by smashing 42 of those runs. It wasn't a happy outing for Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney, both of whom fell for single-digit scores inside the first six overs. However, Ellyse Perry joined Litchfield to steady the ship, stitching together a crucial 37-run partnership for the third wicket that set the stage for the team’s power-hitters to launch from.

Kim Garth walks out at 10 for Australia Women.

Ayabonga Khaka gets rid of Annabel Sutherland and it will take some effort with the bat from here to breach 180. Alana King is the next batter in.

Nicola Carey and Annabel Sutherland will need to finish strongly and help the Aussies post something around 180 atleast.

The Kangaroos find spring in their hops - Indeed. The Australians have handed over a morale-deflating loss to the South Africans, and they will have to recover from this rather quickly, as they are placed in what is termed the group of death. Laura Wolvaardt and Co. will now head to Birmingham for their next assignment against Pakistan, and would hope for an improved performance there. As far as Australia are concerned, they take a trip to Leeds, Headingly for their next fixture against Bangladesh Women. Both those games will be played on Wednesday, 17th June. But for now, action shifts to Southampton as the third and final game of this triple-header, Saturday is just about to get underway. West Indies Women take on the defending champions, New Zealand Women, at The Rose Bowl. Our buildup has already begun there, so you can hop to that matchcenter to follow all the updates. From here, it's ta-ta! Goodbye, cheers!

The captain of Australia Women - Sophie Molineux admits that they were in trouble early on, but are really pleased with how the girls responded and how they bowled. She praises the top and middle order for being able to play all around the ground and take the game on, adding that it was great to see the girls play with that freedom. On Litchfield, she calls her amazing, extremely skilful, and says her confidence and game are going through the roof right now. On the bowling changes, she details that she gets a lot of help with that, crediting the team for having the right people in the right places.

The captain of South Africa Women - Laura Wolvaardt admits and says it was a tough day. Reckons that it was a good first half from South Africa, as restricting Australia to that total was a solid effort. However, she admits the batting performance was disappointing. On the total, she feels it was a touch above par, but reckons South Africa would have backed themselves to chase it down, adding they lost momentum heading into the innings. On having Kapp and Ismail back, she says it's awesome to have them in the side, noting it's been a while since South Africa bowled that well in the Powerplay. She also credits Khaka and Mlaba for their work in the middle overs. On her own innings, she admits it was hard to get going and a bit frustrating, with Australia closing off her scoring areas and keeping her quiet. About De Klerk being sent to bat at number four, she says it's nice to stack the lineup that way and have that power coming through the middle order. On bouncing back, she's confident South Africa will, pointing out it's still a long tournament and the plan is to put this game behind them quickly and move forward.

... Time to hear it from the captains ...

It never really got going - South Africa, at the mid innings break, must've been pleased to have restricted Australia below 180, but when they came to chase, it unravelled quickly. They were reduced to 48/3 in 7 overs, but with Laura Wolvaardt and Nadine De Klerk putting on a rebuilding stand of 41, followed by a 34-run alliance between Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp, it kept the Proteas in the hunt, well and truly. It wasn't an easy pitch for new batters, with uneven bounce from both ends. The ball kept low from one end, which proved tricky for the Proteas to deal with, and with Australia deploying a full spin attack to choke the flow of runs, that's exactly what happened. The spinners twisted the knife and kept twisting it, accounting for 8 of the 10 wickets, leaving the Proteas with no answers. The fall of Laura Wolvaardt at a crucial time triggered a collapse, and they kept losing wickets one after another, never able to recover.

Breathless first innings - A see-saw innings saw Australia post a competitive 172. They did stutter a bit with the bat, by their standards. Marizanne Kapp struck early with a first-over wicket, and Shabnim Ismail soon removed the dangerous Beth Mooney, leaving Australia in early trouble. Phoebe Litchfield then turned things around with a rapid half-century, anchoring a crucial stand with Ellyse Perry, who started cautiously before accelerating well. South Africa hit back when Nonkululeko Mlaba dismissed Perry in the 16th over, cutting short a promising knock, and another burst of wickets followed before Annabel Sutherland and Nicola Carey provided handy late hits to push the total past 170. South Africa's bowlers shared the load well, with Mlaba the standout, picking up two key wickets while keeping things tight.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH - For her outstanding all-round contribution, Georgia Wareham receives the award. She scored a crucial 32 runs with the bat and also picked up 3 massive wickets. On her batting, she says the depth of the lineup lets everyone play with confidence and freedom, knowing what's coming further down the order. She rates Litchfield's knock as awesome today, adding that the group is versatile and it's really just about communicating well within it, something she's enjoyed being part of. On the bowling unit, she notes that she and Ash try to position themselves in the hotspots out in the deep. On Molineux, she says Soph has been brilliant, giving the group plenty of freedom and instilling belief that they're a strong side capable of taking on this tournament, which she calls pretty awesome.

The Aussies boss it up and how​​​​​! As dominant as you like from the six-time World Champions, Australia. They have shown exactly why they remain the yardstick in white-ball cricket and the most successful side in the shortest format of the game. They've also taken brutal revenge for that defeat to the Proteas in the 2024 semifinal, a loss that denied them a seventh title, and set the sails nicely for their journey this time around. A tough, tough outing for the Proteas overall. They have just folded here, losing their last five wickets for just 10 runs. This will massively dent their net run rate moving forward in the tournament. That's a shellacking. Barring three batters, no one from the Proteas unit could cross the double digits. Ouch!

Nonkululeko Mlaba is the last batter in for South Africa Women.

South Africa Women still need 69 runs from the last 4 overs. The Aussies will consider one foot over the finish line as the opponents are 8 down.

Another one bites the dust. Shabnim Ismail is the new batter in.

It's spiralling down rather quickly now for South Africa. No impact from Kayla Reyneke in his first World Cup game. Also, Jatin Sapru on air informs that this is King's first T20I wicket against this opposition. Sinalo Jafta comes in at number 8.