The 2022 International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s World Cup in New Zealand is the 12th edition of the most anticipated tournament in the sport.
South Africa’s women’s national cricket team first took part in the World Cup in India in 1997, reaching the quarter-finals. In the 2000 edition, they were beaten by Australia in the semifinals. But when the women’s World Cup was hosted on home soil for the first time in 2005, the country only finished seventh in the group stage. And 2009 was also a nightmare with South Africa exiting in the group stage.
This year, South Africa entered the tournament with the hope of finally bringing it home – and as the continent’s only representatives.
They started their campaign as the second-best team in the current ICC women’s one-day international standings, having secured five consecutive series wins. In their first encounter against Bangladesh at this year’s tournament, a rusty team managed to win by 32 runs, with bowler Ayabonga Khaka outstanding. However, they managed to score only 207 runs in their 50 overs.
Taking on Pakistan next, they posted a target of 224 runs and just managed to restrict Pakistan to 217. Shabnim Ismail was the pick of the bowlers.
South Africa against England was a nail-biting match. South Africa restricted current champions England to only 235 with the exceptional bowling of Marizanne Kapp. This was followed by a great display of batting from the whole team. The Proteas beat England by three wickets before seeing off hosts New Zealand by two wickets. It’s without a doubt that they are contenders for the 2022 World Cup trophy.
Their next matches are against Australia on Tuesday, the West Indies on Thursday and they wrap up the round-robin stage against India next Sunday.
– the conversation.com
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