Same Old Same Old?

India and South Africa played out a familiar script at Visakhapatnam. After the power-play India were flying at 0/55. An hour and a bit later they were 6/102. The pitches at the World Cup are ideally suited for left-arm orthodox spinners. South Africa has Chloe Tryon and Nonkululeko Mlaba, who shared five tidy wickets between them. Want of purpose and impatience saw the women in blue make another mess of their batting. Richa Gosh was however hiding down the order at no.8, and she applied herself to the task at hand with relish. She was given able assistance by Amanjot Kaur and Sneh Rana. But the match turned when South Africa’s bowling and fielding fell to bits. What had been a low-scoring match suddenly wasn’t. 98 were scored from the last ten overs, mostly from Gosh, who fell just short of a brilliant century. 251 all out looked about par, all things considered. But it ought to have been far less than that.

South Africa seemed determined to follow India’s example. They lost their top five wickets inside 20 overs and the game looked done and dusted. Wolvaardt kept her head and made a patient 70. With Chloe Tryon she managed 61 for the sixth wicket. The game turned on Wolvaardt’s dismissal. Nadine de Klerk had experienced the horrors with the ball, losing both line and length piteously. But there was nothing tentative about her innings. She put on 69 in ten overs with Tryon. On the latter’s departure, the eighth wicket saw 41 in three overs. Khakha contributed one of these runs. de Klerk was unstoppable. Eight fours and five sixes out of 84no from 54 saw the Proteas unexpectedly home with seven balls to spare.

We appear to be seeing a pattern here. Perhaps batting really does get easier in the latter stages. This is an older paradigm for one-day cricket: caution until the 40th over, then party time. Perhaps teams might consider not throwing most of their wickets away early on?

Tonight it appeared New Zealand had absorbed the lesson at Guwahati. Suzie Bates got off to a flyer but managed to run herself out. Plimmer and Kerr got themselves out, unable to negotiate the fivefold spin attack. At 3/38 off 11 overs, and without the luxury of dynamite hitters down the order, the situation cried out for caution. Which was exactly what Devine and Halliday employed. Between them they batted for more than 30 overs. They laboured, but both managed sixties. Devine’s struggles in the stifling humidity were piteous; but, exhausted as she was, she managed a couple of late sixes before departing. Aside from Green, none of the others troubled the scorers overmuch, but the eventual tally of 9/227 was far better than earlier proceedings had promised. The pick of the bowlers was the youthful and fearless Rabeya Khan, whose 3/30 was no less than she deserved.

A bridge too far for the Tigresses? And so it was. The three seamers Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair and Lea Tahuhu reduced them to 6/33 after 14 overs and the rest was anticlimactic. Fahima and Rabeya prolonged the resistance without threatening an upset, and the White Ferns were on the board at last. England meanwhile took on Sri Lanka and made somewhat heavy weather of their innings. All except for Nat Sciver-Brunt, whose run-a-ball 117 was easily the standout performance. Beaumont and Knight made useful runs, and the rest came and went, mesmerised somewhat by Ranaweera’s left-arm orthodox offerings. She took 3/33 from her ten. The other bowlers also contributed well.

But the occasion was Sciver-Brunt’s. She also took two handy wickets as Sri Lanka subsided for 164, devastated by Ecclestone’s incisions. 4/17 is impressive enough from ten overs; but these were all top-order players. England leads the table, following India’s shock defeat. Tonight India takes on Australia. The winner will qualify. The loser may also; but not without palpitations.

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