Australia suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of South Africa for the second time in two weeks. The team’s poor performance, which included dropping five catches and a failed batting display, led to their loss in a rain-affected women’s one-day match.

After sustaining an elbow injury that led to her early exit in the first match, Marizanne Kapp made a remarkable performance with both her batting and bowling skills to lead the Proteas to their maiden ODI victory against Australia.

Australia’s defeat by 84 runs on Wednesday night at North Sydney Oval, breaking their nine-year streak of not losing an ODI there, means that the three-match series will now be decided at the same venue this Saturday.

Ash Gardner, dealing with tightness in her hamstring, joined forces with Kim Garth (42 not out) to stage a comeback for the hosts after they had fallen to 71-8 in their pursuit of a DRS-adjusted 234 for the win.

Despite the impressive 77-run partnership between the allrounders, which set a record for the highest ninth-wicket partnership in WODI history, it was not enough to salvage Australia’s poor start with the bat. They were ultimately dismissed for a total of 149 runs.

The Proteas secured victory when Megan Schutt was declared lbw in the 30th over, with the match shortened to 45 overs due to rain.

Kapp (75) capitalized on the Australians’ poor fielding by scoring her second half-century of the ODI series, despite being dropped twice earlier in the match.

Kapp led the hosts to a score of 229 runs in 45 overs, while the Proteas, who had won the second of three T20Is last month, only scored 105 runs in 50 overs in the first ODI.

During the fifth over of Australia’s pursuit, Kapp (3-12) initiated a remarkable decline in batting performance by eliminating captain Alyssa Healy (4) and Beth Mooney (0) within three deliveries.

Kapp made batting look effortless as she quickly knocked over the middle stump to send Mooney packing. She then caught Litchfield (14) lbw when the inexperienced player tried to block the ball.

The highest-ranked ODI team in the ICC faced difficulties when their score was 3-34.

Kapp’s fellow team members quickly joined in on the destruction, with newcomer fast bowler Ayanda Hlubi (2-41) taking the wicket of Ellyse Perry, who was caught behind for just two runs as she battled a stomach bug while trying to continue batting.

Hlubi achieved her second ODI wicket as Georgia Wareham was dismissed after chopping on, making her the second out of three Australians to be dismissed without scoring.

In her first over, Nadine de Klerk was able to take two wickets and only allow one run. She successfully dismissed Tahlia McGrath, who was the only batter to have scored at that point, by catching her behind.

After Alana King hit de Klerk to the point position, Australia’s score was 8-71 and it seemed they were at risk of falling below their lowest ever total in an ODI – 77 runs – which was achieved in 1993 and 2004.

Gardner and Garth aided the hosts in maintaining their reputation, with support from the Proteas’ strategy of substituting Kapp out of the attack.

The Proteas were nearing a significant victory as Gardner hit a shot off Eliz-Mari Marx (2-22) that was caught by wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta.

Before, King dismissed Kapp for 37 runs while bowling, and then Healy dropped the experienced allrounder at 45 runs after Garth’s delivery was edged towards her.

Perry missed a catch on the deep ball, allowing Anneke Bosch to continue and help the Proteas turn their score around from 1-0 to 43.

In slippery conditions, Wareham caused further frustration for the Australians by dropping Sune Luus (19).

Annabel Sutherland, immune to the catching troubles, successfully caught both Bosch and Luus at long on from Gardner’s bowling (2-31) before they were able to make significant progress with their innings.

In the penultimate over, King missed a catch at short fine leg, allowing Chloe Tryon (37no) to continue her innings with three more boundaries and increase South Africa’s overall score.

Source: theguardian.com