South Africa defeated the West Indies by a convincing 10-wicket margin in their opening game at the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.

The West Indies batting order was completely destroyed by Nonkululeko Mlaba’s outstanding bowling performance, and openers Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits made light work of finishing the chase.

After Nonkululeko Mlaba’s left-arm spin destroyed the West Indies top order, Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits produced fuss-free unbroken fifties, South Africa cruised to an easy opening victory over the West Indies. In the women’s T20 World Cup curtain-raiser in Dubai, the openers cruised past South Africa with 13 balls remaining.

With bat or ball, the West Indies were unable to fully break out of the blocks. Their highest scorer, Stafanie Taylor, scored 44 points off of 41 shots. However, they never appeared to be in the mood to make a big offer, and South Africa never appeared to be in danger of not being able to pursue it.

Mlaba ended a painful innings (4 off 14 balls) with a single during the powerplay, hitting a flatter delivery onto Qiana Joseph’s off stump. However, most of her damage was done through the middle, by which time West Indies were already struggling to muster a respectable score.

That speedier ball was dangerous, and her lines were tight. In the twelfth over, she removed Shemaine Campbelle from the game with a bowl off her thigh pad. Then, she slowed the pace and got Chinelle Henry caught behind the following ball.

Aaliyah Alleyne failed to keep an off-side slash down in her final over, the 16th of the innings, and the Brits made a superb diving catch at cover. Mlaba only gave up two boundaries in her four overs, a four to Deandra Dottin and a six to Taylor. However, she did bowl five wides down the leg side off her hat-trick ball. Mlaba finished with 4 for 29 from her four overs.

Henry bowled the opening over, which saw forceful boundaries hit by Wolvaardt and the Brits. Wolvaardt was leading the attack, striking particularly memorable boundaries through the leg side to go to 29 off 20 by the time the fielding restrictions ended. The Brits were quieter for the remainder of the powerplay. During that time, British players scored 12 out of 16.

After reducing the needed rate to roughly 5.5 per over, the two began to accumulate runs in the middle overs, mostly playing safe cricket. Karishma Ramharack dropped Wolvaardt on 33 when she was unable to hold on to a challenging return opportunity. South Africa’s progress was uneventful otherwise.

They moved to 100 off the first ball of the 15th over, as Wovaardt hit her half-century off the 45th ball she faced. The British managed to reach the next over, likewise off the 45th ball, after hitting four more boundaries following that powerplay. West Indies were never able to hold either batsman down for an extended period of time.

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Taylor’s innings always needed to be a fighting one, with Hayley Matthews out in the third over, Joseph bowling soon after, and Dottin out for 13 in the seventh over. With the exception of one half-volley that Annerie Dercksen hit for a boundary in the ninth over, Taylor was mainly modest during the opening part of the West Indies innings as she made an effort to reassemble.

Towards the conclusion of the inning, she attempted a few more aggressive pitches, but her timing was not very good. Even still, West Indies might have lost by double digits without her.

Despite not being required for her main suit today, Marizanne Kapp made a significant influence on the game by taking out two of the most threatening top-order batsmen in the West Indies. When she first caught Matthews off guard, the batter hardly thought she had the upper hand on the ball. Next, Kapp had Dottin ducking under further cover in an attempt to hit a long shot over the off side.

After bowling three of the first seven overs and getting two for eleven, she returned at the end of the innings, conceding just three runs.