South Africa has taken a 1-0 lead in their historic one-day series against India with a win in a rain-affected match at the North West Cricket Stadium, Potchefstroom, on Sunday March 11. The win, by 29 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method of calculating revised targets, follows the washout of last Thursday's historic series opener at Lenasia.
Sune van Zyl took 4/23 from ten overs as India, batting first, were restricted to 158 for 9 in their fifty overs. Mithali Raj top scored with 61, while opener Anju Jain (22) was the only other Indian bat to reach the twenties. The South African pace bowlers all performed well to keep the Indian batting in check. Nolubabalo Ndzundzu conceded just 17 runs from her ten overs, Cri-Zelda Brits (2/40) took the first wickets of her international career, while Yulande van der Merwe (2/35) removed Jain and Amrita Shinde from successive deliveries. On the other hand, slow over rates by the South African bowlers meant that their batsmen were permitted only 48 overs in which to chase their target of 159.
South Africa pursued their target aggressively from the start, and although the top scorer was wicketkeeper Daleen Terblanche with 26, all six required batters chipped in with double-figure scores. Their quick start meant that they were ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis targets as rain stopped play on one occasion, and then brought proceedings to an end at 4.54pm.
South Africa were on 123 for 4 when the match came to an end after 32.5 overs. On the Duckworth-Lewis tables they only needed to be on 95 at the time to claim victory. Four Indian bowlers - Jhulan Goswami, Sunita Singh, Mamatha Maben and Deepa Kulkarni - took a wicket each.
Two games remain in the one-day series, the third match to be played at Supersport Park, Centurion, on Wednesday, the fourth at Green Point Park, Cape Town, on Saturday. A one-off Test will commence at Boland Park, Paarl on Tuesday March 19.
This was South Africa's first victory in women's cricket against India. In all one-day internationals between the two countries to date, India have won 2, South Africa 1, with one no-result. Before this series, India won by five wickets in a World Cup quarter-final at Patna in 1997, and won by eight wickets in Christchurch in the World Cup of 2000.
Second One-day International, South Africa v India
Played at North West Cricket Stadium, Potchefstroom: 10 March 2002
Summary: India 158/9 (50 overs), South Africa 123/4 (32.5 overs). South Africa won by 29 runs (D/L method).
India innings:
Anju Jain c Laing b van der Merwe 22;
Anjum Chopra c Reid b Brits 4;
Mithali Raj c Laing b van Zyl 61;
Amrita Shinde lbw b van der Merwe 0;
Mamatha Maben c van Zyl b Eksteen 10;
Hemlata Kala c Laing b van Zyl 18;
Arundhati Kirkire c Terblanche b van Zyl 4;
Deepa Kulkarni not out 9;
Jhulan Goswami b van Zyl 11;
Sunita Singh b Brits 1.
Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-15, nb-1): 18.
Total (for 9 wickets, 50 overs) 158
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-49, 3-49, 4-94, 5-126, 6-132, 7-139, 8-153, 9-158. Did not bat: Neetu David.
South Africa bowling: van Zyl 10-4-23-4 (1nb, 2w), Brits 10-0-40-2 (5w), van der Merwe 10-1-35-2 (3w), Ndzundzu 10-4-17-0 (1w), Eksteen 8-1-36-1 (3w), Viljoen 2-0-5-0 (1w).
South Africa innings:
Kerri Laing c Chopra b Singh 16;
Josephine Barnard c Goswami b Maben 10;
Daleen Terblanche c David b Goswami 26;
Denise Reid c Chopra b Kulkarni 20;
Alison Hodgkinson not out 23;
Cindy Eksteen not out 10.
Extras (b-2, lb-2, w-14): 18.
Total (for 4 wickets, 32.5 overs) 123
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-37, 3-67, 4-104. Did not bat: Sunette Viljoen, Yulandi van der Merwe, Cri-Zelda Brits, Sune van Zyl, Nolubabalo Ndzundzu.
India bowling:
Goswami 6-0-29-1 (12w), Singh 8-1-21-1, Maben 5-0-25-1 (1w), David 8.5-1-20-0, Kulkarni 4-0-22-1, Shinde 1-0-2-0 (1w).
Toss: India. Captains: Cindy Eksteen (South Africa) and Anjum Chopra (India). Umpires: R Ellis and J Horn.
Notes: South Africa penalised two overs for slow bowling rates. Play ended at 4.54 pm due to rain. South Africa's par score on the Duckworth-Lewis tables at the time was 95.
Further information:
The Duckworth-Lewis Method, explained by Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis (CricInfo site)