South Africa struggled to a disappointing 215 for eight after an opening partnership century in the third and final ODI against India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the garden city of Bengaluru on Sunday.
Trailing 2-0 in the series, South Africa were playing for pride and world ranking points as they won the toss and chose to bat first on a slow pitch with varying bounce.
Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits began cautiously with Brits dominating the strike but struggling for timing. After nine overs, the South Africans had crawled to 29 but Wolvaardt restored some momentum with four boundaries off the final over of the powerplay which they reached on 46 without loss.
The pair reached the hundred mark for the first time in the series as they picked up the pace before Wolvaardt – by far the most fluent of the two – drove pace bowler Arundhati Reddy firmly back, only for the bowler to claim a sharp catch.
The South African captain had struck seven typically handsome boundaries in her innings of 61 in 57 balls, her 32nd ODI fifty.
Her dismissal led to the loss of four wickets for 18 runs, with Brits the next to go for 38 – the self-made victim of a run out as she drove a delivery from Deepti Sharma firmly to mid-off before running heedlessly for the single. Marizanne Kapp – correctly – did not respond and Brits, who had nearly run herself out previously, was run out by the length of the pitch.
Anneke Bosch then became Reddy’s second caught-and-bowled victim. If anything, this was an even better catch as she lunged low and to her left to cling onto another firm drive. Spinner Shreyanka Patil then completed a hat-trick of caught-and-bowled wickets, an easier catch this time, as she deceived Marizanne Kapp into chipping a flighted delivery back to her.
