Key events
The scores in the first innings at Sharjah so far in this comp: 119-7, 116, 93-7, 118-7.
With that framing, we go out to the pitch report with Nat Germanos. She tells us that it is 36 degrees outside and that they’re using a strip that makes one boundary a fraction shorter square of the wicket. Lisa Sthlaker reinforces that it’ll be spin to win out there.
England: Maia Bouchier, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight (c), Alice Capsey, Amy Jones (wk), Danielle Gibson, Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Linsey Smith.
South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, Anneke Bosch, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Sinolo Jafta (wk), Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayabonga Khaka.
South Africa have won the toss and have elected to bat
Runs on the board and all that. Heather Knight says she would’ve batted first too had she won the toss. Laura Wolvaardt is asked what she wants her team to improve upon. “Everything.” There you go. Of greater interest, both teams are unchanged.
Preamble
Adam Collins
Good afternoon. Welcome to some Group B action from the T20 Women’s World Cup in the UAE. Today we’re down the Sharjah end of the freeway for a fixture that may not necessarily dictate which team advanced from England and South Africa – all things being equal, both should – but as importantly, who avoids Australia in the semi.
For the Proteas, they stitched together the most impressive performance of the tournament so far, putting away the Windies by ten wickets. England, who are the favourites to top the group, were less impressive with the bat but never gave Bangladesh a chance with their four-pronged spin attack making the most of the slow surface. Expect the same today on that front with run-a-ball scores the objective.
We’re not far from the toss – I’ll be back for that, and the teams, at 2:30pm BST with the first ball 3pm. Stay in touch through the game: write me a line or drop me a tweet.
