South Africa recorded another thrilling win by defeating Bangladesh by 3 wickets in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 on Monday (October 13). This was their third consecutive win and took them to third place in the points table.
Like the game against India, where they were bowled out at 81/5 before successfully chasing 252, South Africa were bowled out at 78/5 while chasing 233. They had started well and were at 58/1 but fell victim to the collapse, losing four wickets for only 20 runs.
The collapse began when captain Laura Wolvaardt was run out on 31. After this, Marizanne Kapp and Chloe Tryon raised their team’s hopes by adding 85 runs for the sixth wicket. This partnership was broken by Nahida Akhtar in the 41st over when she dismissed Kapp for 56 runs.
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At that time the match was tied and South Africa still needed 70 runs. With Kapp out, Nadine de Klerk came in the middle. Fresh from his heroics against India, where he played an unbeaten match-winning inning of 84, De Klerk once again excelled with the bat and led his team home in thrilling fashion.
Tryon and De Klerk looked comfortable in the middle and looked like they would finish the game off for South Africa. However, Bangladesh turned the game around by dismissing Tryon for 62, while the African team still needed 35 runs.
Bangladesh got a golden opportunity to tighten their grip on the game when De Klerk conceded a run in the 49th over but was caught by Shorna Ekter at long-off. It was a costly mistake as de Klerk ended the contest with a four and a six in the final over. When eight runs were required, he hit a four on the first ball of the 50th over and a six on the third ball.
Bangladesh made competitive scores against South Africa:
Earlier in the match, Bangladesh performed well with the bat and posted a competitive score of 232/6 in the allotted 50 overs. He reached the 200-run mark for the first time in the current competition. All the top five batsmen of Bangladesh started with the bat.
Out of those five, Sharmin Akhtar and Shorna Akhtar scored half-centuries. Bangladesh struggled to score runs at a good pace for most of the innings, but still managed to post a competitive total thanks to Shorna.
Their score was 164/4 in the 43rd over but eventually they scored over 230. Shoorna scored 51 runs off just 35 balls, hitting three sixes and three fours and helped her team finish strongly with the bat.
South Africa vs Bangladesh Brief Score:
Bangladesh 232-6 (50 overs): Shona Aktere 51* (35); Nonkululeko mlaba 2-42
South Africa 235-7 (49.3 overs): Chloe Tryon 62 (69); Nahida Actor 2-44
South Africa won by three wickets
