Fritz in Ferocious One-Day Form

An exceptional performance with the bat by Shandré Fritz saw the Proteas’ Women beat the England Women’s Academy by six wickets in the second 50-over match of the three-match series, at Senwes Park Stadium in Potchefstroom on Sunday.

Fritz scored a swift 90 off 97 balls to bat her side to victory after the South African bowlers did well in their job to restrict the visitors to 203 all out, with 11 balls of their innings to spare, to make it two out of two for the home side, with the final ODI on Tuesday.

South Africa won the toss and chose to field first, striking with the second ball of the match when Shabnim Ismail dismissed Tammy Beaummont for a duck.

It took almost 20 overs for the hosts to capture another wicket as top-scorer Caroline Atkins (47) and Danielle Wyatt (44) did well to rebuild their innings, sharing an outstanding 86-run partnership, before it was brought to a halt by Sunette Loubser, who removed Wyatt.

England struggled to form and maintain partnerships as the South African bowlers continued to take wickets at regular intervals. Only the sixth-wicket partnership of 42 runs between Helen Shipman (22) and Alice MacLeod (36) posed any threat, but it was soon destroyed by Marizanne Kapp to end England’s batting hopes.

Chloe Tryon and Loubser were the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/30 and 3/42 respectively to keep England’s batters in check.

The hosts came out guns blazing with Fritz sharing a 73-run partnership with Trisha Chetty – going at a run rate of 6.95 runs per over, before Chetty was removed by Natasha Miles for 15.

Fritz continued to be at the helm of each partnership, including the very lucrative 68-run partnership with her captain Mignon du Preez (39*) before she was run out on 90 by fast hands between wicket keeper Amy Jones and substitute Deanna Cooper at the end of the 37th over leaving South Africa needing 16 runs to win the match.

Du Preez and Kapp made short work of the remainder of the target.

The third and final 50-over match of the series takes place on Tuesday, 17 April, at Senwes Park Stadium. The match begins at 10am, and entrance is free.