England beat South Africa by 286 runs in women’s international Test cricket – as it happened | Cricket

On December 18, 2024By Littum

Key events

That’s us. A terrific test is in the books; check back here or on site for Raf Nicholson’s match report which will be live shortly. But otherwise peace out.

The appearance of Bell and Filer means that Heather Knight has a choice of poses. Dropping one or the other won’t be easy, but Kate Cross will have to get back in; Ryana MadDonald-Gay might be the one to make room.

That streak begins Saturday, January 11 – we will of course bring it to you – and even thinking about it has got me going.

Next up for England is of course the small matter of The Ashes: three ODIs, three T20s, one Test. We all know what happens with medium pace in Australia, so the way Bell and Filer bowled, in conditions most similar to those awaiting them in January, will make them hard to miss.

Knight lifts the trophy and her players cheer. They have been fantastic in this game, although they won’t like how they batted today, and the form of their quicks, in the absence of Kate Cross, is extremely encouraging.

Heather Knight smiles hard and rightfully so. Only three members of the squad played in England’s last Test win and there have been some tough draws and defeats.

She praises Maia Bouchier and Nat Sciver-Brunt, who scored so quickly on day one that England were in control of the match throughout. She also has good words for MacDonald-Grey, and on Bell, she notes that she’s had problems with consistency in the past, but that she was great here.

Otherwise she compliments a great test track, was happy with her own batting today and that’s all she has for us.

Laura Wolvaardt is disappointed, but congratulations to England who played well. She praises Mlaba, who was “wonderful”, especially the way she came back on day one, she would love to play more Test cricket and that’s the only way you can learn – the nets only offer so much. It’s been a busy year, so now is the time to reflect before they go away again in January.

Lauren Bell is the player of the match

“It’s amazing,” she says of her 8-76 in the match. You learn through the game, she says, and although the wind was not light, the course helped. So she just had to bowl the same delivery over and over again, she explains, and although she’s a work in progress, a performance like that tells her she’s doing well – although Filer and MacDonald-Gay were also fantastic.

The course was helpful, offering bounce, grubbers and cracks, but the speed, line and length that Filer and Bell hit today was fantastic. The winning margin of 286 is a record for them in Tests and this is the first they have won since beating Australia in January 2014.

Throughout the match there has been a feeling that England are just a bit too good for South Africa. And then the last few hours have shown that Bell and Filer, who threw heat as a leader, were misplaced; much as we can criticize the batting, the bowling was ugly.

But don’t let what just happened overshadow the good things SA did: There were some good knocks in their first innings, Mlaba took ten, and there’s plenty they can build on.

WICKED! Mlaba run out (Bell) 15 (South Africa 64 all out) England win by 286 runs!

Abject from South Africa, fantastic from England.

oh my god Malaba is miles inside his crease but tries to avoid the throw and when the ball breaks, stumps and feet are in the air! What a way to go!

20th over: South Africa 65-8 (Sekhukhune 5, Mlaba 15) Target 351 Six fielders around the bat now, but it’s four fours in a row as Sekhukhune cleaves just past Beaumont’s ear and to the fence in deep space. A single follows, then an appeal for legs before, rejected. So Mlaba goes off the ground, Bell carries it on his shin, stings, punches, and that’s it? I think she’s in, but she hasn’t grounded the bat or slid. Upstairs we go..

19th over: South Africa 59-8 (Sekhukhune 0, Mlaba 14) Target 351 Bell finally gets a rest, MacDonald-Gay gets a turn and Sekhukhune forces a single into the opposite end. We learn that the injured Hlbi is not batting so this is the last wicket and Mlaba plans to get all the runs herself, opening the face to cut four through backward before flying over mid-off for more. Her 10 makes her her side’s top scorer and to emphasize the point she throws hands again and ends up toeing to the fence at deep backward point for three boundaries on the spin.

18th over: South Africa 46-8 (Sekhukhune 0, Mlaba 2) Target 351 On a pair of kings, Mlaba – who should have her feet up, a cool drink and her teammates blowing her off – is back in the middle. She plays her first delivery to cover, then swipes to midwicket and they run two/

WICKED! Kapp c Beaumont b Ecclestone 21 (South Africa 44-8)

Ripper! Ecclestone, in his fourth over and still to concede a run, finds a bit of extra bounce outside. So Kapp fences, and at a stupid moment Beaumont leaps forward to crouch while holding on to a beauty inches from the ground and inches from the leaping crease. This has been an amazing passage.

16th over: South Africa 44-7 (Kapp 10, Sekhukhune 0) Target 351 The lowest total in women’s test is 35, scored by England against Australia in 1958; SA’s lowest is 76 against Australia earlier this year.

17th over: South Africa 44-7 (Kapp 10, Sekhukhune 0) Target 351 Yes, Bell goes on and when you lob up to short leg there is an appeal, but think Sekhukhune almost hid his bat and the umpire agrees. Another maiden, and still 20 overs left in the day.

16th over: South Africa 44-7 (Kapp 10, Sekhukhune 0) Target 351 Ecclestone drives through a fast maiden and will Bell get another over? You should think so; you certainly wouldn’t try to get the ball from her.

“As for the Dercksen catch,” writes David Herbert, “the right decision may have been made, but South Africa had no such recourse when Laura Wolvaardt smashed it into her pads in the first innings. Either there’s DRS or if we accept human error, we cannot have a hybrid where no one is aware of what is being reviewed and what is not.”

It wasn’t England who appealed, it was the referee, so we can assume something happened to prevent her from seeing properly because I’m pretty sure they know the laws.

15th over: South Africa 44-7 (Kapp 10, Sekhukhune 0) Target 351 Bell walks around to the left-handed new batter, who is just about to create an inside edge on the pad, or she would be bound for the hutchwards as well. Bell has 4-27 off eight!

WICKED! Jafta lbw b Bell 0 (South Africa 44-7)

AND THAT’S NOT THE END OF IT! Full, pitched up, swinging in … and it’s all too good for Jafta, who heads off and waves the bat without authority, and when the ball hits the back pad, you know she’s gone. Eight in the game for Bell; can she handle tenfer too?

15th over: South Africa 44-6 (Kapp 21, Jafta 0) Target 351 To her credit, Kapp bats with aggression and tenacity, pushing four to cover and clattering four more through the same area, next ball. A two and one follows, Bell presumably flailing in his eighth over, but 3-27 is a presentable and thoroughly deserved return.

14th over: South Africa 33-6 (Kapp 10, Jafta 0) Target 351 Looking back, with DRS, Tryon might have gotten a ref call. But there isn’t one, she knows there isn’t one, and she padded one away from before the pegs; it’s hard to sympathize.

WICKED! Tryon lbw b Ecclestone 0 (South Africa 33-6)

Oh dear, it’s hard to see now. Ecclestone tries an armball, really tight line, and Tryon shoulder arms offering cushion. She may be out of line at the stroke, but because she doesn’t play any shots, she is given out because her stumps were history.

14th over: South Africa 33-5 (Kapp 10, De Klerk 0) Goals 351 Lovely ball from Ecclestone that loops, dips and bounces, narrowly avoiding the shoulder of Tryon’s bat.

13th over: South Africa 33-5 (Kapp 10, De Klerk 0) Goals 351 I said earlier that this has been an entertaining contest, and it has – still is – but it’s never been close. However, England will be buzzing about how ugly this opening pair looks, even if Kapp adds two to cover. So Bell tries an in-swinging yorker, which she digs out well, and then she almost manages a toe-end on the one that goes towards her stumps.

12th over: South Africa 31-5 (Kapp 8, Tryon 0) Target 351 We can criticize the batting, which hasn’t been ideal, and the runs right there, which was stupid, but the story here is how beautifully England have bowled with the match up for grabs.

WICKED! De Klerk run out 0 (South Africa 31-5)

A couple for De Klerk, but why didn’t she hit her bat, never mind drive? I’ll tell you why: pressure.

12th over: South Africa 31-4 (Kapp 8, De Klerk 0) Goals 351 Files are off … so Ecclestone can come on. Or in other words, it doesn’t get any more comfortable for the Saffers. The brain is breathless out there and as Kapp opens the face to ease behind, De Klerk takes off, Jones bowls nicely and cracks the stumps. We go upstairs, but I’m sure it’s yawning.

11th over: South Africa 31-4 (Kapp 8, De Klerk 0) Goals 351 Bell roasts De Klerk outside and does her with a pace and jump so nasty the batter can’t even get an edge. We said it to tea, but don’t be surprised if this ends tonight.

WICKED! Luus b Bell 1 (South Africa 31-4)

What a spell this is from the England opener. Bell’s first delivery keeps low, then second outside off, point on a length and another pokes in, this time the stump breaks! This is the end, beautiful friend, the end

10th over: South Africa 31-3 (Luus 1, Kapp 8) Score 351 Eeeesh, after a dot and a leg bye, Filer knocks one in and finds abittabounce and catches Kapp on the arm; not nice. But Kapp is not behind the door in attacking herself, and offered some width, straight back of a length, she pushes forward and down on one knee, smokes four through cover, then drives four more to long on. Nice work.

9th over: South Africa 22-3 (Luus 1, Kapp 0) Goal 351 There is no DRS in this match, so the referee must have blinked, been blind or similar. England were very confident and it looked that way to me both at the time and on replay, so I don’t suppose SA have much to complain about: the right decision was made.

WICKED! Dercksen c Beaumont b Bell 9 (South Africa 22-3)

Yup, Dercksen comes forward, the ball whizzes inside the edge, so pad, as far as I can tell, and South Africa are in dire trouble. This has been one hell of a hassle from England’s opening hours.

9th over: South Africa 22-2 (Dercksen 9, Luus 1) Goals 351 Bell jumps in and Luus opens the face, serves one to deep third, then angles in one that then moves away and Dercksen edges… just shy of Ecclestone on one. She needs to stand closer I think because we’ve seen the damping bounce of the pitch but forget that the next ball Dercksen is bowled there’s an appeal for a bat-pad catch at short leg and the umpire says no ! I’m not sure – I think there was an arrow involved – and she must have blinked or something, because after a quick conference with her square counterpart, we go upstairs to have another look…

8th over: South Africa 17-2 (Dercksen 5, Luus 0) Goals 351 Dercksen narrowly avoids giving an edge when she is pinned on the crease, but she affects the enjoyment and grins widely after putting the bat on a straighter. A bouncer follows, ducked, and the overflow ends with a Filer extracting a bit of extra bounce, Dercksen is just about to parry. Maiden and this is excellent gear from England’s opener.

7th over: South Africa 17-2 (Dercksen 5, Luus 0) Goals 351 Bell looks to slant in towards the stumps from wide and eventually Dercksen flashes and swings the bat towards one slightly wider to guide four past the second of two slips. That’s her off the mark and as Bell goes down her leg she helps the ball around the corner and they add one more.

6th over: South Africa 12-2 (Dercksen 0, Luus 0) Goals 351 Filer flies back in and completes his pre-tea and completes a wicket maiden.