New Zealand 350 for 8 (A Kerr 179*, Gaze 68, Reyneke 2-54, Klaas 2-61) bat South Africa 346 for 6 (Bosch 91, Wolvaardt 69, Tryon 52*, Illing 3-60, Knight 2-65) with two wickets
It was the
Amelia Kerr show at Basin Reserve on Wednesday when she played the kind of innings that would go down in cricket folklore if played at a World Cup instead of a bilateral series, to completely steal the limelight in a match with three other knocks and a total of 696 runs in 99.4 overs. Amelia scored 179 not out in 139 balls. And so
New Zealand crossed
South Africa‘s 346 with two balls to spare, it became the
highest successful chase in the history of women’s ODIs.
The result hardly looked like it did when New Zealand, chasing 347, lost Suzie Bates in the fifth over, built by Ayabonga Khaka. Amelia settled quickly but by the halfway mark New Zealand were four down, Kayla Reyneke struck twice and Sune Luus once as Georgia Plimmer, Maddy Green and Brooke Halliday all fell without making a significant contribution.
Amelia finally found the partner she needed
Isabella Gazethe wicket-keeper batsman at no. 6. Together the two of them scored 120 runs in 82 balls, Amelia scoring 47 of those runs in 34 balls to Gaze’s 68 in 48, studded with 11 fours.
By the time Gaze fell to become the first of two wickets in the game for Masabata Klaas, New Zealand had hit back down the right and were in with a strong sniff. Amelia, then on 113 from 97 balls, looked in the mood.
And then, with the lower-order batsmen for company, Amelia did what she had to: speed up. She scored a run-a-ball 23 in a 40-run stand with Izzy Sharp, then 25 in 12 balls with her sister Jess, Rosemary Mair came and went, and then Amelia finished the job in the company of debutant
Kayley Knight with two balls left. Amelia reached her century – her fifth in ODIs, which included a double century – off 90 balls, and the 79 she scored after that came off just 49 more.
Earlier, South Africa would have felt happy with their performance with the bat after New Zealand won the toss and asked them to bat, having lost the first match batting first, although not by choice.
New Zealand struck early, removing Tazmin Brits in the eighth over, but then had to wait until the 28th over before they were lucky again. in between,
Laura Wolvaardt (69 in 74 balls) and
Anneke Bosch (91 in 90) added 132 runs in 124 balls, and South Africa were clearly on top.
South Africa continued to build strong partnerships with many of their batsmen setting up and showing form: 44 between Bosch and Luus (40), 34 between Luus and Sinalo Jafta (37), 40 between Jafta and
Chloe Tryon (52*), 36 in just 18 balls between Tryon and Nadine de Klerk (18), and 25 in 12 balls for the unbroken seventh wicket between Tryon and Reyneke (9*). All this despite adding up to a very healthy total
Bree Illing‘s 3 for 60 and Knight’s 2 for 65, and South Africa would have expected to end the night with the series in the bag, until Amelia decided otherwise.
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