Johannesburg — Sophia Dunkley’s maiden One-Day International century and four wickets for off-spinner Charlie Dean, set up another comprehensive victory for England in the second ODI against South Africa in Bristol on Friday.
Dunkley, moved up the order to no.3 for the series, played superbly, taking advantage of a poor bowling display from the South Africans, who despite welcoming Shabnim Ismail back into the starting team, struggled to maintain their lines and lengths on a consistent basis.
Heather Knight chose to bat after winning the toss, but she could not have thought South Africa would be so charitable with the new ball. The England openers, Tammy Beaumont and Emma Lamb feasted on a plethora of short and wide offerings from the Proteas to give their side the initiative.
Marizanne Kapp was unusually out of sync, battling to find a fuller length that would have allowed her to target the stumps more. When she tried the short ball, it wasn’t bowled quickly enough allowing Lamb, who made a century in the first match and Beaumont to pull and cut comfortably.
Their first wicket partnership was worth 127 runs, which came at a good rate of six an over. The Proteas two left-arm spinners, Chloe Tryon and Nonkululeko Mlaba, put a brake on the scoring, with Tryon dismissing both of the England openers. Lamb made 67 and Beaumont, 58.
Thereafter Dunkley, having taken her time to assess conditions, in combination with Nat Sciver dominated the Proteas. Sciver backed up her half century from the first match, with another thunderous innings, scoring 63 off 47 balls, hitting five fours and a six. The pair shared a partnership of 142 runs for the third wicket.
Dunkley opened her shoulders, hitting Ismail for a fabulous six over long-on in the process. Besides running well between the wickets, she also struck eight fours and two sixes, in her innings of 107, that came off just 93 balls.
She was dismissed off the final ball of the innings to give Nadine de Klerk her second wicket. Tryon was the best of the Proteas bowlers picking up 2/34 in seven overs.
Laura Wolvaardt struck some sweet strokes in an aggressive innings that had her side ahead of the required rate during the Power Play. There were some characteristically elegant drives, and a few powerful cuts as she notched up a 28th ODI half-century. However she needed to bat the majority of the innings if South Africa was to have any chance of chasing the prodigious target.
With opening partner Andrie Steyn struggling again, the pressure mounted on Wolvaardt, who tried to go over the top of mid-on, but mistimed the stroke sending the ball straight to Issy Wong giving Dean her first wicket. Wolvaardt faced 48 balls in her innings of 55 and hit 10 fours.
South Africa lost their next five wickets for the addition of just 51 runs, with Dean taking two of those and debutant fast bowler Wong the other three as her pace proved too much for the Proteas. Dean took 4/53 from her 10 overs, while Wong picked up 3/36.
Kapp's excellent form with the bat continued as she made a gutsy 73 off only 59 balls — her tenth half-century — smashing 10 fours and a six.
With their victory on Friday, England extended their lead in the multi-format series to 6-2. The two sides are using a points system first used in the Women’s Ashes series in 2013. The teams were awarded two points each after the Test match was drawn, while England picked up two points for winning the first ODI.
The third ODI will be played on Monday.
SCORECARD
England 337/5
South Africa 223 all out