A superb partnership from Sune Luus and Laura Wolvaardt made sure that the Proteas women would reach the fourth and final day of their one-off test against India after they reached the close on day three on 232 for two in their second innings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday afternoon.
Luus was impeccable, scoring her maiden test century before she fell shortly before the end of play for 109 off 203 balls, having struck 18 fours, while Wolvaardt ended unbeaten on 93 off 252 balls (12x4).
A first Test fifty for Laura Wolvaardt 👏https://t.co/07jDs5UymW #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/oUj2RPjRCC
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 30, 2024
In all, it has been a superb test for Luus, who also scored 65 in the Proteas' first innings. However, the lack of support from most of the other batters in the team has cost them.
Going into the final day, the visitors still need 105 runs to make the hosts bat again, and a lot of that will depend on Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp (15no) building a big partnership and hoping that they don’t collapse again like they did in their first innings.
The Proteas began the final session on 124 for one, and Luus and Wolvaardt safely took their side past the 150 and 200 run marks, with Wolvaardt reaching her half-century and Luus reaching a brilliant hundred with a two off Sneh Rana in the 67th over.
Luus was then dropped on 104 off the bowling of Rana after she pulled the ball straight into the short leg fielder's chest, but she wasn’t able to make the chance count as a few overs later she edged a ball from captain Harmanpreet Kaur onto herself and then the stumps, with the score 206 for two.
That ended a stunning 190-run second wicket stand and brought Kapp in to join Wolvaardt at the crease, as they tried to ease their side to the close.
Kapp, however, led a charmed life after she was dropped twice by Deepti Sharma in the final two overs of the day, in the slips off the bowling of Rana and then off her own bowling as they gratefully reached the close without any more damage.
TOPSY-TURVY BATTLE
Earlier in the day, it was a topsy-turvy battle between the two teams, with India initially taking charge, before the Proteas fought back.
In the morning session, the Proteas lost seven wickets while scoring 59 runs, with six of them falling for just 17 runs in a collapse that threatened to see them fall to a big innings defeat against the hosts.
However, some top batting from Luus and Wolvaardt saw them reach tea in their second innings in a decent position, after an unblemished second session saw them score 95 runs without losing a single wicket.
On Saturday’s day two, India declared their first innings on a record 603 for six before the Proteas showed their mettle by battling through the day to the close on 236/4, but that all went to waste as they were skittled all out on Sunday morning.
Opener Anneke Bosch (9) was the only wicket to fall in the Proteas second innings before lunch after a Sharma delivery kept low and beat her defensive prod to trap her LBW, but it was the seventh Proteas wicket to fall on a dismal morning with the bat for the South Africans.
The Proteas started the day with Kapp (74) and Nadine de Klerk (39) at the crease and they extended their fifth-wicket partnership to 51 runs before Rana made the breakthrough and then proceeded to run through the rest of the batting order, as they lost their last six wickets for just 17 runs.
Kapp was first to fall, bowled, and Sinalo Jafta was caught at short leg for a fourth-ball duck after edging the ball onto her thigh later in the over as the Proteas slipped to 249 for six.
Annerie Dercksen (5) was pinned LBW by a ball from Sharma that kept low, and De Klerk pulled Rana straight to Rajeshwari Gayakwad at square leg off successive balls as they tumbled to 258 for eight.
Rana then wrapped up the innings spectacularly with two viciously spinning deliveries, bowling Masabata Klaas (1), who left the ball, and Nonkululeko Mlaba (2), as she finished with brilliant figures of 8-77 in 25.3 overs.
INDIA WOMEN: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Shubha Satheesh, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Richa Ghosh (wk), Jemima Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Ranuka Singh Thakur, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
PROTEAS WOMEN: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Anneke Bosch, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp, Delmi Tucker, Nadine de Klerk, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Annerie Dercksen, Tumi Sekhukhune, Masabata Klaas, Nonkululeko Mlaba