Having lost the Test and ODI series, South Africa bounced back to defeat India by 12 runs in the first women’s T20I to secure their first win of the multi-format tour on Friday.Opener Tazmin Brits (81; 56b) and Marizanne Kapp (57; 33b) struck belligerent fifties as South Africa posted an imposing 189/4 after India opted to bowl.
In reply, Smriti Mandhana (46; 30b) and Shafali Verma (18; 14b) gave India a brisk start before South Africa triggered the collapse.
Brits, Player of the Match: Don’t think I can explain that. It was tough. Might’ve made the runs but I wasn’t happy with myself. I struggled early on. Felt like I was letting the team down with the batters to come in. Our team is capable of many things. Happy to get a win under the belt.
Harmanpreet Kaur, India captain: Definitely we didn’t play good cricket overall. Dropped too many chances in the field, played too many dot balls in the middle overs. They bowled well. But the way we started we just needed to keep going. But with the dot balls, we weren’t able to make it.
Laura Wolvaardt, South Africa captain: Much nicer standing here now. In the Test match we started to show that fight. Not too upset batting first in the end. It was tough to defend but the bowlers did well to stretch it out. Cricket is a funny game but I really liked the intent we came out with today. Was a really exciting game.
Marizanne Kapp: It took longer than we would have liked. Heading into the WC, it is a nice win. I had put them away (deft shots) but it worked for me tonight. We have been speaking about being positive, we play like that in the nets but for some reason we were not able to replicate it in the match, happy we could execute it today. I am definitely going to bowl, it is a back injury and I am close to bowling. It was a fantastic innings, she (Britz) struggled at the beginning but then got the momentum, you help each other when one is struggling.
