Cape Town - A batting collapse saw the Proteas women suffer their first defeat at the ICC Women’s World T20 when they took on defending champions the West Indies at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium in St Lucia on Wednesday.
Chasing 108 to win, the South Africans lost nine wickets for 28 runs as Windies captain Stefanie Taylor took four for 12 in 3.4 overs to lead her side to a 31-run victory.
Asked the bat first, the West Indies were rocked by the bowling prowess of Shabnim Ismail who was once again a shining light for South Africa up front, returning impressive figures of three for 12 in her four-over spell. The hosts were reduced to 29 for four before Kycia Knight (32) and Natasha McLean (28) put on 45 runs for the sixth wicket, guiding the Windies to 107 for seven after their allotted 20 overs.
South Africa’s reply got off to a slow start, but they still looked set to reach their target when they were 48 for two after 11 overs.
However, three run-outs coupled with Taylor’s four wickets saw the Proteas collapse to 76 all out, giving the hosts a famous victory with eight balls to spare. Marizanne Kapp (26) and Lizelle Lee (24) were the only ones to reach double figures.
The next two fixtures are must-wins for the Proteas if they wish to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.
They tackle England on Friday at 16:00 local time (22:00 SA time), followed by Bangladesh on Sunday at 20:00 (02:00 SA time on Monday, November 19) at the same venue.