Ayabonga Khaka was excellent with the ball for the home side while Laura Wolvaardt also scored runs.
South Africa’s Proteas women’s cricket team beat India by six wickets in the first of five T20 matches between the teams this month in a match played in Durban on Friday evening.
Asked to chase 158 for victory, South Africa reached their target in the final over with four wickets down. Chloe Tryon, who was 18 not out at the end, hit a six off the first ball of the 20th over to get the job done.
Captain Laura Wolvaardt, back to opening the batting after playing at No 3 in New Zealand, led the run chase with a quality 51 off 39 balls at the top of the order. She was well supported by middle order batter Annerie Dercksen who smashed 44 not out off 34.
Earlier, South Africa did excellently to restrict India to 157/7 in their 20 overs, after the visitors had been 46 without the loss of a wicket before five overs had been bowled.
But some good bowling by the South Africans, backed up by quality work in the field, kept the visitors in check.
Opener Shafali Verma (34 off 20), Jemimah Rodrigues (36 off 29) and a 47 not out off 33 by captain Harmanpreet Kaur were India’s best performers with the bat.
Ayabonga Khaka was brilliant with the ball for the Proteas, taking 3/16 in four overs while Tumi Sekhukhune took 2/27 in her four.
The next match in the series is Sunday at the same venue.
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