All-Round Bosch Helps South Africa Women Beat India In 1st T20

Anne Bosch's all-round show helped South Africa women beat India women by eight wickets in the first T20 International of the three-match series at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.

Bosch, 27, scored a 48-ball unbeaten 66 with the help of nine fours and a six after taking two wickets for 11 runs that played a key role in restricting India to 130 for six in 20 overs.

Bosch, with her medium pace, and fast bowler Shabnim Ismail shared five wickets and conceded just 25 runs in their six overs to leave India in a shambles. Ismail picked 3/14 and removed opener Smriti Mandhana for 11, Richa Ghosh (5) and Arundhati Reddy (0).

Bosch broke the important 60-run third-wicket partnership between Harleen Deol (52) and Jemima Rodrigues (30). She picked both the batters towards the end of the innings.

Apart from Harleen and Jemima, no India batter clicked. Shafali Verma, making a comeback to the side for the T20Is after missing the ODIs, scored 23 off 22 balls.

In response, South Africa women lost ODI series star Lizelle Lee early. But Bosch and captain Sune Luus (43 off 49 balls) added 90 runs for the second wicket in 13.3 overs to make it a one-sided contest.

"I think we fought really well. Fielding needs to get better. We have 24 hours for the next match, so need to buckle up and come back stronger," said skipper Smriti, who is standing in for the injured Harmanpreet Kaur.

Smriti incidentally got injured as well. "I have to see how it goes overnight. At the moment it looks better though," she added.

Brief scores:

India women 130/6 in 20 overs (H Deol 52, J Rodrigues 30, A Bosch 3/14, S Ismail 2/11) lost to South Africa women 133/2 in 19.1 overs (A Bosch 66 not out, S Luus 43) by 8 wkts