Marizanne Kapp’s steady 47 and Ismail’s 3 wickets, ensured a nail-biting 3-run win for Momentum Proteas in the 1st ODI in Durban, writes Emily Norris.
The first game of the series saw Pakistan win the toss, choosing to bowl. The Momentum Proteas lost two early wickets, one of them being Lizelle Lee in the first over of the match. She was dismissed lbw by Diana Baig. Laura Wolvaardt and Lara Goodall had to then steady the ship, putting together a 60-run partnership.
Goodall was put down by the wicketkeeper, Sidra Nawaz, when she was on 0. She went on to make 27 off 54 balls before being dismissed attempting to sweep the ball, but missing, with the ball hitting the top of middle and off stump. Mignon du Preez and Wolvaardt’s partnership was short-lived, as Wolvaardt was removed shortly after being joined by Du Preez.
Du Preez hit the ball straight to the short cover fielder, setting off for the run. Diana Baig dismissed Wolvaardt at the keeper’s end with a direct hit. With both set batsmen in Goodall and Wolvaardt dismissed, the Proteas needed to regroup and rebuild.
Marizanne Kapp and Mignon du Preez put together 64 runs between them, with Kapp scoring 47 off 59 balls and Du Preez scoring 29 off 61 balls. The Proteas never really got going in their innings, limping to 200-9 off their 50 overs.
Pakistan then came out to bat, with Nahida Khan and Muneeba Ali opening the batting. Shabnim Ismail took the first wicket of the innings in her second over, nicking Muneeba Ali off, with Trisha Chetty taking a regulation catch.
Pakistan’s stand-out performers with the bat were Nida Dar who scored 59* off 93 balls, Omaima Sohail who scored 37 off 67 balls, Diana Baig who scored 35* off 34 balls, and Aliya Riaz who scored 28 off 44 balls.
Ismail took two wickets in the first two balls of the 39th over, bowling both batsmen through the gate, resulting in Pakistan finding themselves at 137-8.
Some indifferent fielding and good batting saw Dar and Baig put on a record 60-run partnership for the 9th wicket, however, this wasn’t enough to get Pakistan over the line. Ismail ended with figures of 3/42 from her 10 overs.
The game went down to the final over, with Pakistan needing 13 runs off 6 balls. Kapp seemed to be the favourable option to bowl this final over, seeing as she had one over left, however, Suné Luus decided to turn to Nadine de Klerk.
De Klerk bowled a brilliant last over, with 3 dot balls, and going for 9 runs. The boundary in the final over gave Pakistan some hope, needing four off the last ball to win. De Klerk bowled the last ball of the innings in the blockhole, ensuring that the team could breathe a sigh of relief, winning by 3 runs.
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