South Africa 257 for 3 (Wolvaardt 124*, Luus 53, Kapp 45*, Tahuhu 2-40) beat New Zealand 253 (Amelia Kerr 88, Green 43, Mlaba 3-41, de Klerk 3-44) by seven wickets
Laura Wolvaardt’s unbeaten 124 helped South Africa chase down New Zealand’s 253 with seven wickets and 28 balls to spare in the second ODI in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday. The win gave the hosts an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series, and took them to a sole second position on the Women’s Championship table with 14 points from eight games.
After Wolvaardt won the toss and put New Zealand in, Amelia Kerr led the way, scoring 88 off 110 balls. Alongside Suzie Bates, she added 49 in a first-wicket stand in which Bates’ contribution was 14. Masabata Klaas provided the breakthrough by castling Bates, and then removed New Zealand captain Sophie Devine in her next over, also bowled. In all, there were seven bowled dismissals, the joint second-most in an ODI innings. In fact, all ten New Zealand wickets fell without any assistance from a fielder – two batters were lbw and one was caught-and-bowled.
Amelia found support from Maddy Green, who struck 43 off 50 balls, and the pair added 92 in 82 balls for the third wicket. Nonkululeko Mlaba removed Green in the 31st over, triggering a collapse that had New Zealand slip from 158 for 2 to 199 for 8. However, Hannah Rowe and Lea Tahuhu added 54 in 49 balls for the ninth wicket to lift the side to 253.
Lara Goodall fell cheaply, leaving South Africa 43 for 2. From there on, Wolvaardt and Sune Luus steered the chase with their 98-run stand. Wolvaardt reached her fifty off 58 balls; Luus followed her soon after, in 53 balls.
Tahuhu returned to break the stand but there was no relief for New Zealand. Even when it looked like Devine had Wolvaardt caught in the covers for 79, it turned out to be a no-ball. The South Africa captain made full use of the reprieve and brought up her fourth ODI hundred, and first in a chase, off 117 balls. She now has the most ODI hundreds for South Africa, going past Lizelle Lee’s tally of three.
From the other end, Marizanne Kapp scored an unbeaten 45 off 49 balls as the pair added 116 off 117 in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand to take South Africa across the line.
After the game, Wolvaardt called her knock “probably the favourite of my four hundreds just because it was in a chase”.
