England win toss, bowl against Proteas women

England have won the toss and have elected to bowl first against South Africa in the first of three Women’s T20 Internationals at Buffalo Park in East London on Sunday afternoon.

The Proteas will try and draw on their experience from their momentous victory over England during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Cape Town last year. The Proteas secured victory by six runs to make their first World Cup Final.

However, the England ladies have been dominant ever since their first encounter back in August 2007. Since then, England have secured 20 victories to the Proteas four, with one no result sandwiched in-between.

During their last encounter – the Group B World Cup match in Sharjah – England won by seven wickets thanks Nat Sciver-Brunt’s unbeaten 48 from 36 balls, alongside Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s run-a-ball 43. Despite Laura Wolvaardt’s 39-ball 42, it was the spin of Sophie Eccelstone (4-0-15-2) and Sarah Glenn (4-0-18-1) that restricted the Proteas to 124 for six.

Wolvaardt, alongside Tazmin Britz, will be key for South Africa with both top-order batters averaging in the mid-thirties. Wolvaardt has a strike-rate of just under 116 from her 78 matches while Brits strikes her runs at just over 105.

Wyatt-Hodge and Sciver-Brunt are key wickets for the Proteas. Wyatt-Hodge has a wealth of experience, collecting just under 3000 runs at a strike-rate of 127 while Sciver-Brunt has just over 2500 runs at just over 177.

Dillon du Preez hopes that the spin of Nonkululeko Mlaba and the pace of Tumi Sekhukhune, alongside the experience of allrounder Sune Luus will be enough to unsettle a very strong England line-up. The Proteas will be without the services Chloe Tryon due to her commitments in Australia’s Big Bash League.

The spin duo of Eccelstone and Glenn have cause many problems for many teams over the years, having claimed over 200 wickets between them.

SOUTH AFRICA: TBA

ENGLAND: TBA