England Women Crush South Africa Women By 54 Runs
Katherine Brunt took two wickets as South Africa crawled to 84 for four.
©Action Images / Paul Harding Livepic
England Women Crush South Africa Women By 54 Runs
Sarah Taylor opened the batting for England but only scored three runs before being run out.
©Action Images / Paul Harding Livepic
After making 138 for six from their 20 overs, England restricted South Africa to just 84 for four.
Captain Charlotte Edwards scored a quick fire 45 for England after South Africa won the toss and invited England to bat first and struck early to have Sarah Taylor run out for three.
Edwards and Jenny Gunn (24) then added 52 for the second wicket before contributions from Lydia Greenway (25), Beth Morgan (19), and Nicola Shaw (12 not out) helped England reach a competitive score.
England handed a Twenty20 debut to Ebony Rainford-Brent, who was bowled by Charlize van der Westhuizen for a golden duck while Claire Taylor missed out through illness.
South Africa's run chase never got going, especially after Sunette Loubser (one) and Olivia Anderson (nought) were dismissed to leave the visitors in disarray at three for two.
Katherine Brunt (2-12) and Isa Guha (1-14) were too good for South Africa to handle and they also lost the wickets of Alicia Smith (17) and Trisha Chetty (seven) as Holly Colvin grabbed a wicket to finish with one for nine from four overs.
Susan Benade (34 not out) and Cri-Zelda Brits (20 not out) put on an unbroken stand of 56 but never looked like threatening England's score.
The remaining two matches take place tomorrow at the same venue.
England won the One Day International series that preceded the three Twenty20 matches 4-0 and are looking to carry forward that momentum into these matches ahead of next year's Twenty20 World Cup in England.
© Cricket World 2008
