Marizanne Kapp starred with the bat and ball to guide South Africa to a 2-0 ODI series lead over Pakistan.
The world no.3 all-rounder’s unbeaten 68 and 3/44 set the standard for the home side whose 252/7 was just too much for a resolute Pakistan side, who fell 13 runs short.
Aliya Riaz (81) and Nida Dar (51) put on a 111-run partnership which threatened to spoil the day for the Proteas before finishing on 239/8.
South Africa had a solid start to their innings, with Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt putting on 52 runs for the opening wicket. The duo looked good for more, but the stand was broken in unfortunate circumstances when Wolvaardt, who had scored a 40 in the first ODI, was run out for a 34-ball 27 by Diana Baig.
Lee found a good partner in skipper Sune Luus. Their 37-run partnership ensured any momentum Pakistan gained from that early wicket was drained, and when Lee finally fell in the 19th over, just three runs short of what would have been a 19th ODI fifty, Lara Goodall shored things up.
There was a mini slide in the middle overs, when Luus and Goodall fell in consecutive overs to Nashara Sandhu and Baig respectively. Mignon du Preez added just nine before becoming Baig’s second wicket, but Kapp then entered the contest to ensure Pakistan didn’t capitalise on that breakthrough.
She scored an attacking 45-ball 68* – a fine knock comprising 10 fours and a six – to boost South Africa’s total to daunting proportions. There was support from the lower order too, with Trisha Chetty (12) and Nadine de Klerk (19) also contributing.
With the ball, Kapp got stuck into the Pakistan top order and dismissed Muneeba Ali for a duck with just her third delivery of the innings before trapping fellow opener Nahida Khan for an lbw for just eight in her next over.
While the Pakistan openers had experienced a shaky start, Omaima Sohail was having little trouble scoring runs as she routinely picked off deliveries from Shabnim Ismail to send her to the boundary three times and take Pakistan to 37/2 after eight overs.
Ayabonga Khaka was the one to break a developing partnership when skipper Javeria Khan dragged onto her stumps on 13 after a loose swipe outside her off stump, shortly followed by Sohail who was caught at mid-wicket by a diving de Klerk on 41 runs, leaving Pakistan at 63/4.
Sidra Nawaz (6) was added to Kapp’s list of wickets, bringing Aliya Riaz to the crease where she and Nida Dar were able to build a frustrating sixth-wicket partnership for the South African attack, much as they had in the first ODI.
In a bizarre moment, with the pair having put on 65 from 80 deliveries, Riaz had fortune to thank as she found herself marginally short of the crease when a throw-in from the boundary took the bails off, though no appeal from the South African fielders, and no wicket given by the umpire, allowed her to remain at the crease.
Their 100-run partnership came up in the 38th over as Riaz tickled the ball down to deep fine leg off de Klerk’s bowling.
Both Dar and Riaz determinedly reached their half-centuries, but as the run rate gradually began to slide away from them Dar (51) was the first to go, caught on the boundary by Ismail off Khaka’s bowling in the 43rd over.
Riaz continued taking the fight to South Africa, ending the match with a career-best total of 81 runs before being caught at deep mid-on off Khaka’s bowling, who ended the with figures of 4/40.
The final ODI of the series is on Tuesday, 26 January.
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