Perth: South Africa stunned England and defeated them by six wickets for the first time in the history of T20 World Cup on Sunday.
Chasing a below-par total of 124, skipper Dane van Niekerk’s knock of 46 runs and Marizanne Kapp’s 38 helped the Proteas to achieve the target easily.
Mignon du Preez hit the winning runs and played an unbeaten knock of 22 runs while Sune Luus remained not out with one run. This was Du Preez’s 100th T20I for South Africa and she became the only women player to achieve the feat.
For England, Sophie Ecclestone bagged two wickets and returned figures of 2-19 in her four overs. She was the most economical bowler for the English side.
Earlier, South Africa won the toss and asked England to bat first. The English team was only able to score 123/8 in their allotted twenty overs.
Natalie Sciver accumulated 50 runs off 41 balls and opener Amy Jones 23 enabled England to cross the 120-run mark. Apart from Fran Wilson (14), Sciver, and Jones, no other batter was able to score runs in double figures.
For the Proteas, Ayabonga Khaka bagged three wickets while van Niekerk and Kapp clinched two scalps each.