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The total prize money has also gone up by 75% to $3.5 million

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2022The ICC has doubled the prize money for the winners of the upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup to $1.32 million. They have also increased the overall prize money pot by 75%, with eight teams getting a share of $3.5 million, a figure $1.5 million more than the 2017 edition which England had won.The runners-up will take home $600,000, which is $270,000 more than what second-placed India received in 2017. The two losing semi-finalists will receive $300,000 each, while the four teams who will fly back home after the group stage will be awarded a sum of $70,000 – up from the $30,000 prize from the previous edition.Related

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Every group stage win will also earn the teams a reward of $25,000 per victory from a total pot of $700,000.That makes it a rise in the prize money for consecutive editions of the Women’s ODI World Cup. The total prize money between the 2013 and the 2017 edition had seen a ten-fold increase when it went up from $200,000 to $2 million. England, the 2017 winners, got a reward of $660,000 after beating India by nine runs at Lord’s to claim their fourth title.Eight teams are participating at the World Cup this year – to run from March 4 to April 3 in New Zealand – with a total of 28 league games to be played in a round-robin format. Four sides will then move to the semi-finals to be played in Wellington and Christchurch, followed by the final in Christchurch.

Sri Lanka went into the game unchanged after Dunith Wellalage re-joined the team

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2025Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bowl, as the Asia Cup Super Fours stage kicked off in Dubai. Chasing sides have a 70% win record at this venue and that played a big part in Litton Das’ decision. He also added that he was a little “confused” by how the wicket would behave.Sri Lanka are a side that prefers to chase in general, and Charith Asalanka said as much though, with this being a used pitch, he’s not too bothered by batting first.Sri Lanka have gone with an unchanged XI with Dunith Wellalage rejoining the team after leaving for home following his father’s death. Bangladesh have made two changes with Mahedi Hasan and Shoriful Islam coming back into the side. Offspinner Mahedi’s return is presumably to combat Sri Lanka’s left-hander heavy batting line-up.Related

• Bereaved Dunith Wellalage rejoins SL squad in Dubai

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Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar during the pitch report noted that while the potential of dew means chasing might be easier, if it doesn’t come in and the pitch continues to get drier, that equation could change. In terms of ground dimensions, one square boundary is shorter than the other.Sri Lanka: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Mendis (wk), 3 Kamil Mishara, 4 Kusal Perera, 5 Charith Asalanka (capt), 6 Kamindu Mendis, 7 Dasun Shanaka, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Dunith Wellalage, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Nuwan ThusharaBangladesh: 1 Saif Hassan, 2 Tanzid Hasan, 3 Litton Das (capt & wk), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Jaker Ali, 6 Shamim Hossain, 7 Mahedi Hasan, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman.

The final schedule, where six teams will play a total of 34 games, is expected soon

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2023The second edition of the ILT20 is set to run in the window between January 19 and February 18 next year. The six teams – Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai Capitals, MI Emirates, Sharjah Warriors, Desert Vipers and defending champions Gulf Giants – will play a total of 34 games across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah within that 30-day period.Recently, the likes of David Warner, Mark Wood, Shadab Khan and Ambati Rayudu signed up for the second season. Warner and Wood, rivals at the Ashes recently, will play at Capitals, while Shadab joins Pakistan team-mates Shaheen Shah Afridi and Azam Khan at Vipers. Rayudu, who retired from all Indian cricket after IPL 2023 and is currently playing in the CPL, has been signed up by MI Emirates, while Martin Guptill and Maheesh Theekshana will play for Warriors alongside Lewis Gregory.The schedule will clash with the five-match India vs England Test series that begins on January 25 in Hyderabad; Wood and Joe Root, who are both part of the ILT20, are expected to be part of the England squad there. Warner, meanwhile, is expected to fulfil his BBL commitments with Sydney Thunder – the tournament will end on January 24 – before hopping across to the UAE to be part of the ILT20. He will require a No-Objection Certificate from Cricket Australia to play in the league.The second season of the ILT20 will also run more or less concurrently with the second season of the SA20 league in South Africa, which is expected to be played from January 10 to February 10. This was the case last year too. And while the dates for the PSL and the BPL haven’t been announced yet, there could be some overlap there too.The last stage of the squad-building process will involve selecting the UAE players, details of which will be “announced shortly” according to an official release.In February this year, less than a week after Gulf Giants were named inaugural champions at the first edition of the ILT20, it was announced that ILT20 2024 would kick off on January 13 2024. That has now changed. The ILT20 was one of two new men’s franchise leagues added to the calendar last year, along with the SA20, with a crossover of team owners in both leagues and the IPL.

The India tour, WTC final and the Ashes in England lie ahead for Pat Cummins’ side

Andrew McGlashan27-Jan-2023Usman Khawaja believes this Australia men’s Test team will be remembered as a great side if they can sweep the three major challenges ahead of them in the next six months.The squad flies to India next week for the first of a trio of overseas assignments that will shape where the team sits in the history of the game. Australia have not won in India since 2004-05 and that will be followed by a likely World Test Championship final in early June before the Ashes, where they will not only look to retain the urn as they did in 2019 but win the series in England for the first time since 2001.Khawaja, who had a prolific 2022 following a last-minute recall and began this year with a career-best 195 not out at the SCG, shapes as a key figure in an experienced batting line-up where the likely top five all average over 45.Related

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“100%, definitely,” Khawaja said when asked if the side would be worthy of the great tag should they collect the three trophies on offer. “But win, lose or draw, we’ve played some amazing cricket. We are the world No. 1 team at the moment, have been for last year, we’ve got some terrific players in this team. [We’ve got] one of the best Test cricket batsmen I’ve seen, Steve Smith, and got some amazing bowlers, too.”Personally, it’s probably the best team I’ve been a part of because even when I came into the side we were sort of in transition. We had some great players, [and] some new players in between, so it’s just really nice to be in a team where everyone trusts each other and looking forward to what will happen over the next six months.”Jason Gillespie, who was part of the side than won in India in 2004 after having seen the 2001 series slip away, added his voice to what victory in India would mean for the team.”Let’s be honest, for this group of Australian players, this could be a career-defining tour,” he said. “All us cricket tragics and fans should be pretty excited about this group of players, I know I’m excited as a cricket fan to see what this group of players can achieve in India.”

Usman Khawaja prepares for first Test in India

Khawaja was part of the squads for the 2013 and 2017 tours of India but has yet to play a Test in the country. He was one of four players suspended for a Test on the 2013 trip for what became known as homeworkgate, when they did not return an assignment ordered by coach Mickey Arthur.This time, Khawaja returns as a more complete player of spin and much more comfortable in a relaxed set-up. He has had an eye on the India tour over the last few months and has tailored some of his preparation during the home summer.”We’ve always got one eye on future tours, no matter what,” he said. “We do take it one tour at a time but you have to have one eye on the tour, especially if you are going from here to India with very different conditions.”Even the way I’ve been practicing, I’ve been practicing for these [home] games here but when I feel I’ve ticked that off I go and do stuff I feel I need to for next two months. I know there’s a lot of other guys who are similar, just comes from maturity. A lot of us are pretty old now, we’ve been around for a while now, with that maturity we understand you need to have one eye ahead.”Some of the 18-player squad will head into a camp in Sydney while others, including Khawaja, will continue with their BBL sides during the first phase of the finals series. The squad heads to India early next week where they will initially be based in Bengaluru before heading to Nagpur for the first Test, which begins on February 9.

Teams agree on draw after Jharkhand extend lead to 1008, the biggest in the history of first-class cricket

Himanshu Agrawal in Kolkata16-Mar-2022Their first-innings lead – a mammoth 591-run lead at that – over Nagaland took Jharkhand into the quarter-final of this season’s Ranji Trophy. Nagaland’s struggle finally ended just after halfway on the fifth day, as the two teams shook hands at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, with Jharkhand having taken a lead of 1008, the highest in the history of first-class cricket, when they finished on 417 for 6 in their second innings.When the final day’s play started, Jharkhand were 132 for 2 in their second innings, already 723 ahead, and could have pushed for a win, as they might have when they bowled Nagaland out for 289 after putting up 880 in their first innings. But they chose to bat on, taking a result out of the contest. As a result, opener Utkarsh Singh and middle-order batters Anukul Roy and Kumar Kushagra, who had scored 266 in the first innings, added to their numbers.Jharkhand added 285 runs in just over 53 overs of play on the day. Roy followed his first-innings 59 with an entertaining 159 off 164 balls, smashing 14 fours and seven sixes in his knock. He added 163 with Kushagra, who scored 89 in 104 balls. Utkarsh was the first wicket to fall on the day, caught off Shrikant Mundhe for 73 after resuming on 50.Kushagra joined Roy at the start of the 51st over, and after the 58th, the two started to up the scoring rate. They took 41 off four overs as Roy edged closer to a century, and he got to the landmark, his second in first-class cricket, in the 66th over by hitting a six off left-arm spinner Imliwati Lemtur.He continued to have fun against the spinners, taking four and six off consecutive balls from Rongsen Jonathan in the 77th over, before cracking two successive sixes off Lemtur in the next. Though Roy fell to Jonathan for a career-best 153, Kushagra continued to go big, launching Jonathan for two sixes before being dismissed off the third ball of the 91st over, which turned out to be the final delivery of the match.The Ranji Trophy quarter-finals begin after the IPL concludes on May 29, the tournament having been split into two chunks this season. The fixtures for the knockouts have not been released yet.

Allrounder set to open the batting for the Melbourne Stars again this season

Alex Malcolm16-Dec-2019Allrounder Marcus Stoinis is committed to opening the batting for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League again this season, despite the fact that the middle order appears his best avenue back into the Australian T20 side.Stoinis was left out of Australia’s T20 squad in the two series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in October and November. The selectors opted not to pick a seam-bowling allrounder in the squad, using Ashton Agar at No.7 as a spin-bowling allrounder.The return of David Warner also changed the dynamic in the top order. Stoinis had opened the batting in Australia’s previous two T20 internationals in India in February after an outstanding BBL last season, when he opened for the Stars and made 533 runs at 53.30 with a strike rate of 130.63, including four half-centuries.The combination of Warner and Aaron Finch looks a lock for Australia at the 2020 T20 World Cup.But Stoinis is set to open again for the Stars alongside Nic Maddinson after the pair faced the new ball in the Stars’ first practice match against the Melbourne Renegades at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Monday.He said doing what’s best for the Stars is his first priority.”I can’t see myself changing too much from there just because you want to do right by your franchise,” Stoinis said. “We want to win games and I want to do what’s best for the team and then you just go from there I guess.”Stoinis said the reasons why he was omitted from the T20 squad had been communicated to him clearly by chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns. He hasn’t had a discussion with either Hohns or coach Justin Langer about his place in the pecking order for the T20 World Cup next year but is confident he can play any role required.”No, I haven’t spoken to them about it,” Stoinis said. “I’m sure I’ll get a call from JL [Langer] or someone to speak about that side of things maybe. But for me, look, I’ve batted (Nos.) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, I’ve bowled in the powerplay, I’ve bowled at the death, I’ve bowled in the middle, I’ve fielded in the slips, I’ve fielded on the boundary, I’ve fielded at cover. Something I pride myself on is being adaptable. I’ve played a lot of cricket in multiple positions so I should be okay.”It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Stoinis could get a call about the Test side given the injury to Josh Hazlewood in Perth against New Zealand. Australia played an allrounder in the last Ashes Test at The Oval and Langer floated the idea of playing five bowlers on Boxing Day if the surface was flat.Stoinis was called up to the Test squad during his stunning run of form in the BBL last year but was eventually named 12th man for the Canberra Test against Sri Lanka.His Sheffield Shield form has been very consistent this season but is missing some big scores. He’s made four half-centuries in nine innings completed innings (the 10th was abandoned at the MCG due to a dangerous pitch) with a highest score of 79 when he was run out against South Australia. He also has 12 wickets at 27.25 having taken wickets in all five games that he bowled in.”Test cricket is still my goal,” Stoinis said. “That’s where I want to play. I’ve played a lot of Shield cricket this year, the most I’ve played for 3-4 seasons and it’s good to remember how to block the ball and spend some time in the middle.”For now, he’s fully focussed on the Stars. The disappointment of last year’s final is a distant memory with a new coach and some new signings. Stoinis said the transition of former Stars captain David Hussey into the head coaching job has been seamless.”I think the key thing for Huss is he hasn’t brought too much new stuff,” Stoinis said. “He was around the group for so long as a player, he was captain, he knows Glenn [Maxwell] so well, he knows what makes the boys tick. He hasn’t tried to rattle the cage or anything like that, he’s just tried to create a stable environment, super relaxed, take any pressure off the players and let us perform.”ALSO READ: How the Melbourne Stars stack up for BBL 2019-20The Stars lost their opening practice match after an assault from Renegades pair Sam Harper and Shaun Marsh on a flat pitch at the Junction. But Dale Steyn’s arrival on Tuesday night from South Africa, along with the addition of Nathan Coulter-Nile brings a fresh new dynamic to the attack that already features two high-class legspinners in Adam Zampa and Sandeep Lamichhane.”It’s a big change for us I reckon,” Stoinis said. “We’ve got some real ball speed, [Daniel] Worrall is fresh as well so he bowls nice and quick. And that will complement our spinners as well. I think with the big square boundaries at the MCG and our good spinners and good quicks, we’re going to be hard to beat.”

Brad Hodge has played his last first-class game after a knee injury ruled him out of what was intended to be his finale against New South Wales in Newcastle starting on Friday

Cricinfo staff16-Dec-2009Brad Hodge has played his last first-class game after a knee injury ruled him out of what was intended to be his finale against New South Wales in Newcastle starting on Friday. Hodge struggled with knee soreness after aggravating an existing problem during Tuesday’s FR Cup match against South Australia.He announced his impending retirement from first-class cricket last month after family commitments won out over the desire to add to his six Test caps. Hodge leaves the first-class arena with 17,084 runs at 48.81 from 223 appearances, with 51 centuries and a top score of 302 not out.However, Hodge is keen to play on for Victoria in Twenty20 and one-day cricket and he has not given up hope of making the Australia squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies next year. The Bushrangers will reassess Hodge’s fitness next week before the one-day against New South Wales in Sydney.Victoria have also lost Darren Pattinson to a calf strain, while his brother James Pattinson is having his workload managed and will miss Friday’s Sheffield Shield match. Jon Holland, Steven Gilmour and the uncapped left-arm fast bowler Will Sheridan have been included in a 12-man squad.New South Wales will again be captained by Moises Henriques, who at 22 last week became the fourth-youngest skipper in the state’s history. The legspinning allrounder Steven Smith will rejoin the side after a quick trip to Perth to act as cover for Nathan Hauritz in Australia’s Test squad.Victoria squad Chris Rogers, Nick Jewell, Lloyd Mash, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Andrew McDonald, Matthew Wade (wk), John Hastings, Jon Holland, Bryce McGain, Steven Gilmour, Will Sheridan.New South Wales squad Phillip Hughes, Phil Jaques, Usman Khawaja, Moises Henriques (capt), David Warner, Ben Rohrer, Daniel Smith (wk), Steven Smith, Grant Lambert, Stephen O’Keefe, Aaron Bird, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc.

She hasn’t always started well but has managed to do the job by just hanging in there

Andrew McGlashan in Sydney04-Mar-20204:54

Katy Perry or Ellyse Perry – who does Heather Knight want to see in the World Cup final?

There’s never a bad time to hit career-best form, but finding it at a World Cup is especially handy. England allrounder Nat Sciver is playing as well as she ever has in the T20 format, having ended the group stage in Australia as the leading run-scorer in her new role at No. 3.Half of Sciver’s eight T20I fifties have come in her last six innings: one in the tri-series which preceded the World Cup and now three in four knocks in the tournament itself, against South Africa, Thailand and West Indies, the latter in the match that secured a semi-final berth for her team.Sciver picked out one of the key reasons behind her form as the volume of cricket she has played in the last few months – the WBBL for the Perth Scorchers (where she was coached by Lisa Keightley shortly before she took the England job) followed by a series against Pakistan in Kuala Lumpur before arriving in Australia.”Consistency of playing, it’s a bit like running in with the ball, you get a little bit of rhythm,” she told ESPNcricinfo. “I was lucky enough to play in the Big Bash which probably helped a little bit and through the winter we didn’t really stop. So been feeling pretty good and nice to get the results.”Before the series in Malaysia against Pakistan, Sciver had only batted at No. 3 five times in 66 T20Is. She briefly returned to No. 4 in the tri-series, in a match where she scored 50 against India, when Katherine Brunt was promoted to No. 3, a tactic they have sensibly shelved during the World Cup. The best players need to face the most balls in T20s and for England, Sciver is certainly one of those.Being self-critical, she believes there have been innings where she hasn’t got it quite right at the start but by not giving her wicket away has been able to catch up in the latter stages, something she admitted she can forget is in her armory.”I probably would have liked to get going a bit quicker in some of the innings but feel like I’m adapting and reading the game pretty well to play to the tempo the game needs,” she said. “I’ve been a bit guilty of not remembering that previously. It could be different on Thursday but at the moment it’s coming out of the middle nicely so need to look after that.”Half of Natalie Sciver’s eight T20I fifties have come in her last six innings•Getty Images

Her captain Heather Knight praised how Sciver has adapted to her new position by realising that she has the ability to hit through as well as over the field.”That’s been a key learning for her, I think previously when she’s gone in during the powerplay, she’s felt like she’s had to go mad and gone a bit too high risk,” Knight said. “In this World Cup, she’s been accepting that she might have a few more dots in the powerplay but can catch up. She’s a phenomenal striker of the ball and has been very calm, trusts her game, and think she has enjoyed having a few balls to face.”One of the innings where Sciver showed her ability to catch up the scoring rate was against South Africa where she went from 24 of 29 to 50 off 41 but it wasn’t enough as England lost in the final over. It gave their campaign an early jolt and, like the hosts, meant they could not afford another slip. Sciver admitted there were a few waves of doubt personally, but the team believed they were not far away from the level they needed to be at.”I think everyone was a bit deflated. As an individual, you probably have a bit of doubt,” she said. “Can we really do this? But in terms of everyone believing, in the team we weren’t far away. We knew if we’d done just a few things differently we would have got over the line. Even with not as many runs as we’d have liked we managed to take it to the last over. The language we used was no different to what we are using now, it was just a case of getting it done in the middle.”England’s reward for their three straight victories is a semi-final against India, who went unbeaten through their group. The defeat to South Africa could yet prove critical, though, with a poor forecast looming and a washout meaning group winners progress. “Not having a reserve day isn’t ideal, but so be it,” Sciver said.There is the prospect of a healthy crowd at the SCG and then the promise of something far greater if they can reach the final at the MCG with 60,000 tickets sold as of Wednesday. Sciver recalled the 2017 World Cup final Lord’s, when England beat India in front of a sellout crowd, a match where she made a crucial half-century.”I loved it,” she said. “You still get some jitters going out to bat or waiting to bat, but once I’m out there being in that noise lifted me a little bit so I’m looking forward to that energy if we are there.”England have a 5-0 record against India in T20 World Cups. Sciver could have a big role to play in making it 6-0.

She has been named in Canada’s squad for the Women’s T20 Americas Qualifier, a pathway to the 2024 T20 World Cup

Nagraj Gollapudi31-Aug-2023Danielle McGahey is set to become the first transgender player to feature in international cricket after being named in Canada’s squad for the Women’s T20 Americas Qualifier, the pathway tournament to the 2024 T20 World Cup.McGahey, a 29-year-old batter, is originally from Australia but moved to Canada in 2020. According to , which reported the story first, McGahey socially transitioned from male to female in 2020, before undergoing a medical transition a few months later in 2021.On Thursday, the ICC confirmed that McGahey had fulfilled the eligibility criteria for male-to-female (MTF) transition to play international cricket. “We can confirm that Danielle went through the process as required under the ICC’s Player Eligibility Regulations,” an ICC spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo, “and as a result has been deemed eligible to participate in international women’s cricket on the basis that she satisfies the MTF transgender eligibility criteria.”McGahey told that she was “absolutely honoured” to play as a transgender athlete at international level. “To be able to represent my community is something I never dreamed I would be able to do.”McGahey played four matches for Canada at the South American Women’s Championship held last October in Brazil, which Canada won. That tournament did not have international status.The Americas Qualifier, which will be played in Los Angeles, USA from September 4 to 11, will feature Argentina, Brazil, Canada and hosts USA. The winner will progress to the global Qualifiers where teams from other regional Qualifiers will contest for spots in the next T20 World Cup, to be played in Bangladesh.The ICC amended the Player Eligibility regulations in 2021. In Article 3, dealing with eligibility based on gender recognition, the term transgender is defined as “individuals whose gender identity is different from the biological sex assigned to them at birth (whether they are pre- or post-puberty, and whether or not they have undergone any form of medical intervention)”.For a male transitioning to female, testosterone levels are the key measure and have to be “less than 5 nmol/l (nanomole per litre) continuously for a period of at least 12 months, and that she is ready, willing and able to continue to keep it below that level for so long as she continues to compete in the female category of competition”.The ICC’s existing regulations are based primarily on the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) guidelines from November 2021, a 10-principle approach it offers as a framework to sporting bodies, in which it has attempted to to balance inclusivity in participation with fairness of competition.That approach has, however, been polarising, with some scientists and medical experts criticising the dropping of the requirement for trans women to lower testosterone levels as well as not presuming any performance advantage. The new framework has been criticised as prioritising inclusion over fairness and is seen by critics as a reversal of the original IOC regulations formulated in 2015, which relied heavily on the science of testosterone levels. Those regulations required transgender women athletes to maintain testosterone levels under 10 nmol/l and use testosterone-suppressing medication for at least a year.The IOC also stated that each sport should have its own guidelines, and many have stuck to the original 2015 regulations. Several sports bodies, from rugby to athletics and cycling, do not allow transgender women to participate in women’s competitions.Though McGahey is eligible, the ICC itself in the process of a detailed review of its guidelines, led by its medical advisory committee. Regulations have been under review since March and there remains the possibility that they may change.For the moment, McGahey is on the verge of making history.

Having slipped to 3 for 3 in pursuit of South Africa’s 138 for 3, Pakistan were revitalised by a 77-run stand between the duo

Liam Brickhill19-May-2019On Saturday, South Africa completed a tight chase with only a ball to spare to draw level in the series, but Pakistan have now pulled off their own last-over finish in the third T20I to make it 2-1.Having slipped to 3 for 3 in pursuit of South Africa’s 138 for 3, Pakistan were revitalised by a 77-run stand between Nida Dar and Iram Javed, who struck her maiden T20I fifty.Pakistan needed seven from the last over, and South Africa’s decision to leave that over to Nadine de Klerk seemed to have been justified when Javed carved the first delivery out to wide long-on, where Tazmin Brits held a stunning diving catch at the boundary’s edge. But that was as good as it got for South Africa, Sana Mir slamming the first ball she faced to the square-leg boundary and then swiping two more runs in the same area to secure victory with two balls to spare.Pakistan’s turnaround was all the more remarkable considering the trouble they were in at the start of their innings. Shabnim Ismail struck twice in consecutive overs, while left-arm pacer Moseline Daniels also made an early incision to help send Pakistan’s top three back to the pavilion inside the first three overs.Dar and Javed took a little time to get going, and it wasn’t until the final over of the Powerplay that Pakistan finally found the boundary, but they picked the pace up thereafter. Javed took a particular liking to Tumi Sekhukhune’s medium pace, while the pair also combined to plunder 19 runs from Sune Luus’ second over.Their efforts brought the required rate down to a manageable level, and after Dar was bowled by Daniels for 32 in the 12th over, Aliya Riaz helped Javed to keep the momentum going. Back-to-back boundaries off de Klerk took Javed to a 39-ball fifty, and although she and Riaz both fell before the job was done, Mir ensured there would be no further slip-ups.While she was unable to defend South Africa’s total in the final over, de Klerk had played a hand in the most significant stand of her team’s innings, adding 80 for the second wicket with Brits. After a mix-up led to the early dismissal of Lizelle Lee, run out for 2, Brits and de Klerk combined to take South Africa to a steady 31 for 1 at the end of the Powerplay.Brits brought up her maiden T20I fifty off 47 balls in the 14th over before the dismissals of de Klerk and Chloe Tryon in quick succession dented South Africa’s progress and their run rate dipped below a run a ball. Luus’ adventurous innings helped to up the tempo as she dominated a 44-run stand with Brits, who ended the innings with a massive six over midwicket, but thanks to Javed’s personal best with the bat, South Africa were unable to defend their total.The series now moves to Benoni for the final two matches, with the next one taking place at Willowmoore Park on Wednesday.