Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk have a lot of common interests. On the field, they both are all-rounders and off it they share a wonderful friendship.
On Monday, these best buddies shared eight Indian wickets equally among them to power South African eves to a two-wicket win in the first one-dayer at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
South Africa are now 1-0 up in the three-match series, and the second match will be played at the same venue on Wednesday.
Medium-pacer Kapp (4/21) and spinner Niekerk (4/9) pulled their might together as South Africa bundled out India, who elected to bat first, for 114 in 38.5 overs. At various stages, the visitors appeared to be in trouble, particularly against the pacy Jhulan Goswami (3/22). But Chloe Tryon’s well-paced innings (50, 80b, 7x4) helped them past the line, reaching 118 for eight.
SA lost opener Lizelle Lee in the third ball of the first over, castled by Goswami. It triggered a slide that consumed Trisha Chetty, Nadine Moodley skipper Mignun du Preez, and Kapp for just 31 runs in 12.2 overs.
South Africa were dangling on the edge at 31 for five, and the first hint of stability came through the sixth wicket alliance (37 runs) between Niekerk and Tryon. Tryon was brilliant under testing circumstances, combining well-judged singles with occasional big hits to the fence.
After her stand with Niekerk, Tryon stitched another significant alliance with Sunette Lousber for the seventh wicket, 29 runs off 45 balls that pushed SA closer home.
Earlier, Indian batting never really got any momentum, struggling against Kapp and Niekerk. In fact, they lost the top four – VR Vanitha, Smriti Mandhana, skipper Mithali Raj and Poonam Raut – inside 11 overs. Kapp did the bulk of damage in that phase, bagging three wickets in her first spell of six overs.
At 30/4 in 10.2 overs, India needed a steady partnership to wriggle out of the tight situation. Goswami (33, 81b, 2x4) and Kaur did just that adding 63 runs in 114 balls for the fifth wicket.
They were unhurried initially and opened up once spinners -- Lousber and Niekerk -- were brought in. Just when the alliance seemed carrying India to a good position, they lost Kaur (31, 51b, 3x4). Kaur top-edged Niekerk to Lousber at covers as India lost their fifth wicket at 93.
Panic appeared to have flooded through the Indian dressing room as they lost the next five wickets for 21 runs, Niekerk taking three of them. Among them, Goswami’s dismissal, caught behind by Chetty off Niekerk, ended India’s hopes of a bigger total.
score board
INDIA: VR Vanitha c Khaka b Tryon 11, Smriti Mandhana c Niekerk b Kapp 11, Poonam Raut lbw Kapp 3, Mithali Raj lbw Kapp 4, Harmanpreet Kaur c Lousber b Niekerk 31, Jhulan Goswami c Chetty b Niekerk 33, Sushma Verma (run out) 0, Poonam Yadav (not out) 13, Ekta Bisht c&b Niekerk 2, Shubhalakshmi Sharma c Chetty b Niekerk 0, Rajeshwari Gaekwad b Kapp 0; Extras (B-2, W-4) 6, Total (all out, 38.5 overs) 114
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-24, 3-29, 4-30, 5-93, 6-94, 7-105, 8-112, 9-112.
Bowling: Kapp 6.5-2-21-4, Tryon 5-1-18-1, Letsoalo 10-1-33-0, Khaka 6-0-17-0, Lousber 3-0-14-0, Niekerk 7-4-9-4.
SOUTH AFRICA: Lizelle Lee lbw Goswami 0, Trisha Chetty lbw Shubhalakshmi 15, Nadine Moodley b Goswami 2, Mignun du Preez b Kaur 11, Marizanne Kapp b Kaur 1, Dane van Niekerk lbw Goswami 14, Chloe Tryon (run out) 50, Sunette Lousber c Smriti b Shubhalakshmi 1, Yolani Fourie (not out) 12
Marcia Letsoalo (not out) 0; Extras (LB-2, W-10) 12, Total (8 wkts, 41.1 overs) 118
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-7, 3-29, 4-29, 5-31, 6-68, 7-97, 8-113.
Bowling: Goswami 7-1-22-3, Bisht 9.1-5-20-0, Shubhalakshmi 6-1-17-2, Harmanpreet 5-1-28-2, Rajeshwari 9-2-14-0, Poonam Yadav 5-0-15-0.
