South Africa have long been England’s nemesis at World Cups, having prevented them from reaching the final in both the 2020 and 2023 editions, so there was an element of relief on Mondayas England finally broke that hoodoo – winning by seven wickets, albeit off the final over, to go top of Group B thanks to an unbeaten 48 from Nat Sciver-Brunt.
South Africa are now likely to need to beat both Bangladesh and Scotland if they are to qualify for the semi-finals, while England are in pole position not only to progress out of the group stages but – crucially – to avoid reigning champions Australia (who are expected to top Group A) in the semi-finals.
Heather Knight had warned on Saturday that, given tricky conditions at Sharjah, England’s World Cup batting was “not going to be sexy all the time”. But though England had to grind out runs for the first half of their chase, Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Nat Sciver-Brunt found enough gaps to chisel out the 64-run partnership that took England to touching distance of victory.
Wyatt-Hodge was stumped with 11 runs still needed, but Sciver-Brunt’s beautiful cover drive for four secured the win with four balls remaining. Sciver-Brunt joked afterwards that the shot would be “up there as one of the top 10 sexiest shots of the tournament”.
“The conditions are tough,” Sciver-Brunt added. “Working out the how and making sure we’re all committed to that has been really important and I think we’ve done some great learning over these two games.
“We didn’t finish our World Cup in the best of ways last time against South Africa, so we’re really happy to get over the line.”
With England chasing a potentially tricky target of 125, Marizanne Kapp had turned the screw in the powerplay by sending down two maiden overs and swinging the ball unpredictably enough to trap Maia Bouchier leg-before.
The final result might well have been different had she also removed Alice Capsey for a duck three balls later but the catch was spilled by Anneke Bosch at backward point. Capsey went on to add 19 in 16 balls, including a pair of swept boundaries off three balls from Chloe Tryon.
By the time Kapp returned to deliver her final over – the 15th – Sciver-Brunt had settled in, and was able to find the leg-side boundary twice: the over cost 12 runs, ruining Kapp’s tidy figures.
“The general plan was to have great intent with running and make sure we were getting it out into the outfield and pushing the fielders, and using that momentum to create boundaries,” Sciver-Brunt said. “Keeping that scoreboard ticking over was quite important.”
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Earlier, the South Africa captain, Laura Wolvaardt, had anchored her side’s innings with 42 from 39 balls, while at the back end Kapp and Annerie Dercksen muscled six boundaries between them to take South Africa to 124 for six – the highest total yet scored at Sharjah during this World Cup.
But England’s four-pronged spin attack struck regularly, with Sophie Ecclestone taking out the stumps of both Wolvaardt and Kapp at the death – both batters flailing across the line in an attempt to elevate South Africa’s score.
Initially, South Africa’s aggression put the England fielders under pressure: four catches went begging before drinks were served – one behind the stumps, one at slip, and two on the ring. England also fluffed the chance to run out Kapp first ball, throwing in to the wrong end before Amy Jones’s wild hurl down the pitch went wide and left Kapp time to make her ground.
But an agonising innings of 18 off 26 balls from Bosch, during which her side went 44 balls without scoring a single boundary, prevented them from making the most of their speedy start.
