A disastrous batting collapse saw the South African women’s cricket team suffer their first defeat at this year’s Women’s World T20 tournament in the Caribbean.
The West Indies beat the Proteas by 31 runs in St. Lucia.
The hosts scored 107 for the loss of seven wickets in their 20 overs, but dismissed South Africa for just 76 runs.
The Proteas won the toss and elected to field first which was a seemingly good decision.
Shabnim Ismail was again the stand-out bowler for South Africa, she finished with three wickets for just 12 runs in her four overs and the dangerous Windies side was restricted to a mere 107 for seven.
The South Africans had a slow, but good enough start, they were on 48 for two with Lizelle Lee hitting 24, and Marizanne Kapp contributing 26. But it was all downhill from there as the Proteas lost nine wickets for just 28 runs which included three run outs, to give the Windies a 31 run victory with eight balls to spare.
Proteas women’s captain Dané Van Niekerk they must win their next two matches if they want to qualify for the semi-finals.
“Leading up to this World Cup, our batters have been letting us down. At the moment, we can’t have that, it’s a world cup. We need to have the hard conversations and we need to speak openly and honestly with the batting unit and see if we can turn this bus around.”
Disappointed captain wants to see the team bounce back quickly. #WT20 pic.twitter.com/42rzkwfxcm
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) November 15, 2018
They face England on Friday, and Bangladesh on Sunday.
