South Africa Women defeated New Zealand Women in a nail-biting thriller at ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 in New Zealand.
The Proteas required 14 runs in the last 2 overs with only 3 wickets to spare. Marizanne Kapp, the South African all-rounder, guided her team to the victory in a close contest.
With 14 required off 12 and the Proteas being 7 wickets down, the match could have gone either way. Devine clean-bowled Ismail on the 2nd ball of the 49th over to push South Africa on the brink of a loss.
However, Kapp kept her nerves calm and collected a boundary on the 4th ball of the 49th over. She then smartly pushed one to long-off to keep strike in the last over.
The equation had come down to 6 off 6 with Marizanne Kapp on strike with Mackay to bowl at her in the final over.
Kapp did not let the match go to the last ball and slogged the first ball of the 50th over to gather a boundary by bisecting mid-wicket and long-on at the boundary.
Marizanne Kapp then pushed for a single on the following ball to reduce the equation to 1 off 4. Winning run was secured by Khaka on the 3rd ball of the 50the over when she managed to push the ball to mid-off for a single.
Kapp repeated her heroics from the last match to make South Africa win four in a row at the Women’s World Cup.
Earlier in the day, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first to post a fighting total of 228-10 in 47.5 overs. Sophie Devine top-scored for them with 93 off 101, while Ismail and Khaka each accounted for 3 Blackcaps batters.
In reply, two South African batters, Wolvaardt and Luus, scored half-centuries but could not bat through until the end. Ultimately it was Marizanne Kapp’s innings of 34 off 35 that helped South Africa cross the finish line.