SA women six runs short

2008-08-04 22:03

Johannesburg - South Africa's national women's cricket team lost their Twenty20 match against England Academy at Reading Cricket Club by the narrow margin of six runs on Monday.

South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first. The academy scored a moderate 105 for six wickets in their 20 overs.

Leading scorer for the Academy was opener Rosalie Birch (49 off 62 balls) while Laura Joyce (13 off 14 balls) Alexia Walker (11 off 11 balls) and Tamsin Beaumont (12 off 14 balls) also reached double figures.

The most successful South African bowler was Shandre Fritz (3/18) while Sunette Loubser took 1/16. Two batsmen were run out.

When South Africa batted, needing marginally more than five runs an over, they lost wickets regularly largely due to poor shot selection with too many pulls to leg across the line and charges up the wicket.

Only Alicia Smith (14), Susan Benade (19) and Olivia Anderson, who batted at number nine and was 22 not out, reached double figures. The final pair - Anderson and Dinesha Devnarain - put on an undefeated stand of 30 in four overs but could only reach 99 for the loss of nine wickets.

Coach Noor Rhode was unhappy about the number of poor shots played by his batters but praised his side's fielding which improved greatly.

South Africa meet England at Canterbury on Wednesday in the first of five One-Day International encounters.

- SAPA