England’s Women completed their tour of South Africa by winning a thumping victory in the test match, meaning that they have won every leg of the tour, having already won the T20I and ODI series. This post looks back at what happened in the closing stages of the test match.

KNIGHT HOLDS ENGLAND 2ND INNINGS TOGETHER

England had a 114 run lead on first innings, and they extended that to precisely 350 on a pitch starting to misbehave . There were two noteworthy performances, one on each side. Heather Knight was chiefly responsible for England getting as many as they did, fighting her way to 90. Nonkululeko Mlaba was the bowling star for the proteas, taking 6-79 to give her 10 wickets in the match.

A HORRENDOUS COLLAPSE

South Africa had an awkward mini-session to negotiate before the tea interval. A target of 351 already looked fairly mountainous to begin with, and when Laura Wolvaardt was trapped LBW for 4 to make it 8-1 it took on Everest proportions. Right on the stroke of tea Lauren Filer trapped the other opener Anneke Bosch LBW for 4 and it was 15-2 after 5.2 overs. At 22 Bell had Annerie Dercksen caught by Beaumont (a slightly controversial dismissal, as the umpires conferred before giving it, and the only doubt they could have had was whether Dercksen had actually made contact – Beaumont had certainly made the catch). Then came the period that ensured that the third day would be the last (I was at work when this happened, but listened to the commentary on catch up when I was back home). At 31 Sune Luus was bowled by a beauty from Bell, and then Nadine de Klerk suffered a horror run out immediately after (would have been a horror in any situation and any format, but in a test match with the innings in the process of going into freefall it was particularly atrocious). Two runs later Sophie Ecclestone, who had relieved Lauren Filer, pinned Chloe Tryon plumb in front. When Sinalo Jafta was trapped in front by a superb ball from Bell it was 44-7, and moments later Beaumont took a catch off Ecclestone to account for Kapp whose 21 represented the sum total of protea resistance in the fourth innings to that point. It was then 44-8, and it was known that Ayanda Hlubi was not going to bat due to being injured. Tumi Sekhukhune and Nonkululeko Mlaba added 20 to this dismal total, before Mlaba was run out, failing to get her bat grounded quick enough to beat Bell’s throw. It was appropriate that Bell finished the match – she had taken four cheap wickets in each innings (4-49 and 4-27) in addition to effecting that run out, and was named Player of the Match. The England bowling unit was excellent (Dean didn’t bowl well in the only innings in which she got to bowl, but that was the only blemish). Lauren Filer’s pace, Lauren Bell’s swing (and cut, a new development for her) with the added awkwardness created by her height, the craft and guile of Ecclestone and Dean and the reliable medium pace options provided by Nat Sciver-Brunt and Ryana McDonald-Gay meant that the injured Kate Cross was barely missed in the event. If you are wondering how England were able to accommodate six genuine front line bowling options in a test match line up the answer is simple: Sciver-Brunt is one of the best batters in the side, and Dean, Ecclestone and McDonald-Gay can all be considered all rounders (although she batted at number nine in this match I suspect that McDonald-Gay will be moving up the order before too long – she is probably better with the bat than either Dean or Ecclestone). A full scorecard is available here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…