Jittery South Africa look a long way from lifting the trophy

South Africa (118/6) beat Bangladesh (117/5) by 4 wickets with 4 balls to spare

• Bangladesh set an under-par 117/5

• Kapp and Ismail restrict Bangladesh batters with fiery bowling

• Joty’s rapid 32 from 20 adds gloss to a poor batting display

• South Africa make heavy weather of chasing a modest target

• South Africa await result of India-Australia to find out if they qualify

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela, “The Long Walk to Freedom”

South Africa would do well to reflect upon the words of their former president as they approach the latter stages of this tournament. Inspired by Marizanne Kapp, they have put in one outstanding performance so far, but outside of that amazing day at Manchester, when Kapp led a brilliant chase of 158 to defeat India, they have failed to convince. 

There was a chastening defeat to Australia in their first game, during which their bowling was put to the sword by the genius of Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry and Georgia Wareham and their batting misfired so badly that they were dismissed within 100 balls. This was a terrible start to the tournament.  

It was followed by a painful chase of 128 against Pakistan, during which the big hitting of Annerie Dercksen put them in an invincible position, a position which, amazingly, they almost squandered thanks to some brainless batting, squeezing over the line with 8 wickets down.

A convincing win over the amateurs of the Netherlands told us nothing about the resilience of this team and worries remain about the form of some key players. Laura Wolvaardt has yet to really fire in this competition. A couple of scores in the 40s is all she really has to show, which is not bad, but we expect better of our superstars. Sune Luus and Kayla Reyneke have been dropped, replaced by Tasmin Brits, who has played well and Dané van Niekirk, who hasn’t. Tryon and de Klerk are useful middle order batters, but do not always convince when bowling.

Today’s game against Bangladesh has only reinforced the doubts about this team. A disciplined bowling performance was undermined by a couple of loose overs at the death, followed by a fearful and apprehensive batting performance, which left more questions than answers and gave no sense that this team are world champions elect.

The day started well for the Proteas. Marizanne Kapp’s first ball cannoned into the stumps of Juairiya Ferdous. Three overs later, Ismail’s dismissal of Taj Nehar served to put the Bangladesh opener out of her misery after she had managed only one run from 12 balls faced. Bangladesh then proceeded to bat sedately, striking at just under five runs per over for the majority of the game. Only Nigar Sultana Joty managed to improve things, hitting Ayabonga Khaka for three fours and a six, but it was difficult to imagine that 117/5 would prove in any way a challenging total for South Africa.

It did prove exactly that.

South Africa’s innings started in exactly the same way as Bangladesh’s – with a wicket. Marufa Akter’s first ball swung back alarmingly towards Laura Wolvaardt, went through the gate and knocked over her off stump. It was a perfect delivery and Marufa’s swing in the first couple of overs was so prodigious that she struggled to control it, sending down multiple wides as she tried to factor in the swing when picking her line.  

Possibly as a response to this, South Africa were incredibly timid in their approach, particularly after the powerplay. Between 6.1 overs and 17.2 overs only one boundary was hit (a six from Dercksen from Sanjida Akther Maghla in the 14^th over).

The normally free-hitting Dercksen was cautious and conservative in her shot selection and managed only a run-a-ball 45, which included 20 dots. Marizanne Kapp, the hero of Old Trafford, was subdued and laboured in accumulating 16 runs from 21 balls – an innings which contained no boundaries. Tasmin Brits, who had hit a 63-ball century against the Netherlands, struggled to 20 from 24 balls.

Clearly the slow pitch wasn’t helping them, but South Africa’s mentality was all wrong in this run chase and it almost cost them dearly. Having accumulated only 10 runs in total from overs 15, 16 and 17, they found that a run per ball was no longer enough and some emergency boundary hitting was needed. Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk found the boundary three times in the final three overs, meaning that South Africa could reach their target from the second ball of the final over.

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t comfortable, they didn’t look like world champions. But they found a way to win ugly – something which may well earn them a place in a semi-final, and after that, who knows?