So, that also brings a wrap to our coverage of this game between South Africa Women and England Women. Do join us for the final T20I of the series which is scheduled on Saturday. For now, this is me Hiren Kumar signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Saptak and scorer/analyst Yogesh Kumar. CHEERS!
Heather Knight (England Women Captain): "Really pleased with the win. Credit to the batting group. We lost 2 wickets early and post 200+ was great. The wicket was brilliant. Hopefully we win the 3rd game as well and make it 3-0.
Yeah, the batting was brilliant and the bowling group did well too. Nice to see Lauren Filer do dell on a pacy wicket. We bowled well with the new ball and did good to take wickets at regular intervals."
Laura Wolvaardt(South Africa Women Captain):"Yeah! Not our day. Little bit extra bounce and I think we got carried away by that. They have done better than us in this department. I think the key is in giving the players the room to play their best.
Yes, another match is coming and it's a long summer. We have to regroup and come in the next match."
Sarah Glenn(Player of the Match):"I thought it will be a dominating day for the batters but Nat came and told me to keep it simple. It is a high scoring ground and scoring is easy. Lot of extra bounce and high pace and using the pace by sticking to the basic is the key."
Player of the Match: Sarah Glenn
Time for the post-match presentations.
12:36 AM IST & 9:06 PM Local Time | That's it! GAME OVER! England women win by 36 runs and seal the 3-match T20I series and have a lead of 2-0. A clinical display of both bowling and batting seals the deal for the them. All smiles in their camp.
Here is how the game panned out.
Opting to bowl the first, South Africa Women started brilliantly with the new ball with Hubli getting two early wickets in her very first over of the powerplay but it was the partnership of Danielle Nicole Wyatt and Nat Sciver Brunt which brought back England into the game.
Wyatt-Hodge played an outstanding knock of 78 runs off just 45 balls. Whereas, Nat Sciver-Brunt was also outstanding at the other end and remained unbeaten on 67* off just 43 balls. Skipper Heather Knight also played her part and played a handy knock 26 lower down the order.
With the ball, the Proteas started brilliantly with the new ball but were pretty ordinary post that and leaked too many in the end. Ayanda Hlubi and Nadine De Klerk were the pick of the bowlers for them and picked up 2 wickets each.
Coming to the chase, England Women had the momentum with the them and started very well with the new ball. Sciver-Brunt struck in the very first over and got the breakthrough.
Their bowlers were economical and kept picking up wickets at regular intervals. Sarah Glenn was the pick of the bowlers for them and finished with figures of 4/20 in her 4 overs. Dean and Sciver-Brunt also bowled well and picked up a wicket each.
With the bat, South Africa will be disappointed with how their batters performed. Some of them did get a good start but failed to convert it into a big score. Chole Tryon and Nadine de Klerk were the top scorers for them and scored 30 and 32* runs respectively.
England Women have done nothing wrong and have been clinical and have clinched the series already with a game to go. They will look to make it 3 out of 3 by winning the last one.