A collective effort from England ‘A’ with both bat and ball helped the hosts seal a 15-run victory over the Momentum Proteas in their T20 warm-up match at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Monday.
The English side won the toss and elected to bat first, getting off to a solid start with Bryony Smith (7) and Marie Kelly (10) at the crease before both openers were removed in quick succession by Tumi Sekhukhune (1 / 26), with Smith caught by Suné Luus while Kelly was unfortunately run out at the non-striker’s end.
England then regathered momentum in their innings through a blistering 52-run stand between Alice Capsey and Maia Bouchier, with the former playing the role of the aggressor, smashing two sixes and three fours to race to 32 off 19 balls before she was removed by Luus (1 / 7) in her first over.
With the score on 75 / 3 in the 10th over, Bouchier and Bess Heath (43) then continued the onslaught to combine for an action-packed partnership worth 79 runs to take the hosts over the 150-run mark, before both in-batters fell in the last over of the innings as England ended on 155 / 5 after 20 overs.
Bouchier was clean bowled agonisingly close to a deserved half-century, dismissed for 49 off 42 balls (2 fours, 1 six), while Luus, Sekhukhune and Nadine de Klerk (1 / 20) were the only wicket-takers for South Africa.
In reply, the Proteas Women got off to a stuttering start with key early losses of Lizelle Lee (8), Anneke Bosch (1) and Lara Goodall (8) to leave the visitors 32 / 3 in the seventh over.
Those wickets brought the duo of Laura Wolvaardt (34) and Luus to the crease, as the pair combined to great effect to add 47 runs for the fourth wicket before Linsey Smith grabbed her second of the game to get rid of Wolvaardt.
Despite finding another willing and able partner in Chloé Tryon (21*), Luus was eventually sent back to the dressing room on 45 off 33 (6 fours) as the South Africans valiantly fought to chase down the target of 156 before reaching the end of their innings on 140 / 6 in their allotted 20 overs, succumbing to a 15-run defeat.
The pick of the bowlers for England were L. Smith (2 / 18) and B. Smith (2 / 20), while Freya Kemp (1 / 20) and Danielle Gibson (1 / 20) picked up a wicket apiece.