Fast bowler Shabnim Ismail took two wickets in a nerve-racking final over to seal a thrilling six-run victory for South Africa over Pakistan in a league stage match of the ICC Women’s World Cup at Mount Maunganui on Friday. Defending 10 runs in the final over, Ismail (3/41) picked up two wickets while giving South Africa just three runs for their second win of the tournament.
Earlier, South Africa rode on half-centuries from opener Laura Wolvaardt (75) and captain Sunar Luss (62), to equalize a brilliant spell from spinner Ghulam Fatima (3/52) to equalize 223/9. Their bowlers sealed the deal despite best efforts from Omaima Sohail (65) and Nida Dar (55).
“As a strike bowler, I love getting out on death. I was always confident (to take that catch in the last over). I love catches, that was 100% mine. I don’t take too many catches during the warm-up, but I always support myself,” Ismail said of his stellar show.
With this win, South Africa, who remained unbeaten after two matches, moved up to third place, while Pakistan remained at the bottom of the points table.
“You have to love the World Cup, no game is easy. We can take the positives out of the two wins and try and work out what we need to do to move forward. We take it one game at a time and want to play our best cricket,” Luss said after the match. Put to bat, the in-form Wolvaardt played a brilliant 91-ball knock, finding the fence 10 times. The batsman was fully congratulated by captain Luce (62 off 102 balls) at the other end.
The two put South Africa’s innings together, adding 89 runs for the third wicket to pick up the pace and the team looked ready for a mammoth total. However, Fatima picked up three wickets in two overs to derail South Africa’s flamboyant innings as the Proteas were reduced to 120/5 after 32 overs.
Chloe Tryon (31) and Trisha Chetty (31) shared a 55-run partnership to help South Africa score 200-plus. Chasing 224 for their first win of the tournament, openers Nahida Khan (40) and Sidra Amin (12) got Pakistan off to a good start and added 26 runs in the first six overs.
However, Ismail made sure that the opener didn’t run away from the game, breaking the opening stand by taking an edge off Amin’s bat. He dismissed skipper Bismah Maroof for a duck in the very next ball, but was unable to take a hat-trick off Sohail.
A disappointed Maroof later said, “We were very clinical with the ball and the crucial moments we missed were cost us South Africa and they deserved to win.”
Two consecutive young women, including Ismail’s double-wicket maiden, saw South Africa come back into the game, but Sohail and Nahida continued their work fast, finding boundaries regularly.
They shared a 50-run partnership in the 20th over as Pakistan were 129 runs away from victory at the halfway stage. But seamer Ayabonga Khaka broke the partnership when he already trapped Nahida’s leg.
Sohail then teamed up with Nida Dar and Pakistan to seek their first win of the tournament. A flurry of wickets put the match in balance again but with batsman Dar set up in the middle, Pakistan had a little upper hand.
Dina Baig (13) then joined the party, hitting two fours to help bring down the run rate. South Africa, however, held their nerves before Ismail’s last over to effect Dar’s run out in the last over.
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