England bulldoze South Africa to kickstart World Cup campaign

Riding on an all-round bowling show, England registered an assertive 10-wicket victory over South Africa in Guwahati to begin their 2025 World Cup campaign with a bang. Linsey Smith rattled the Proteas early, and they could never recover from the top-order wobble, folding for 69 – their third lowest total in ODIs – which was hunted down in 14.1 overs.

Inserted, South Africa made a cracking start, with both openers – Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits – peeling off a boundary each off Lauren Bell in the first over. However, it was Smith’s left-arm spin from the other end that set the cat among the pigeons, sending back both the openers in successive overs.

Wolvaardt was the first to depart, in the second over, offering a return catch to the bowler to a delivery that reared up a touch. Brits was beaten on the inside edge and lost her poles. Similarly, Marizann Kapp too perished while looking to play outside the line.

By then, even Bell had found her bearings and made life difficult for the South African batters with the movement on offer. She knocked over Sune Luus’s off-stump. Sinola Jafta showed the stomach for a fight after being given a reprieve – Amy Jones failed to convert a stumping chance – but England meant business and kept picking wickets at regular intervals. The 12-run partnerships that she stitched with Anneke Bosch and Masataba Klaas respectively were the joint-highest of the shambolic innings.

Nat-Sciver Brunt, Sophie Eccelestone and Charlie Dean also joined the fun to pick up a brace each as South Africa folded in the 21st over.

The English openers, Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones, were dominant in the chase. There weren’t any skeletons in the surface as the South Africans batters made it appear. Their English counterparts started on a cautious note against Kapp early on in the run chase. Against the rest, however, they pounced on the scoring opportunities that came their way time and again.

South Africa too introduced the spin of Chloe Tryon early on, but that didn’t prove effective at all as England had the liberty to take things slow. Without taking any undue risks, they sauntered to the target in merely 85 balls.

Brief Scores: South Africa 69 in 20.4 overs (Sinola Jafta 22; Linsey Smith 3-7, Nat Sciver-Brunt 2-5) lost to England 70 for no loss in 14.1 overs (Amy Jones 40*, Tammy Beaumont 21*) by 10 wickets