South Africa have long been England's nemesis at World Cups, having prevented them from reaching the final in both the 2020 and 2023 editions, so there was an element of relief on Monday as England finally broke that hoodoo winning by seven wickets, albeit off the final over, to go top of Group B thanks to an unbeaten 48 from Nat Sciver-Brunt.
Heather Knight had warned on Saturday that, given tricky conditions at Sharjah, England's World Cup batting was not going to be sexy all the time. But though they had to grind out runs for the first half of their chase, Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Sciver-Brunt found enough gaps to chisel out the 64-run partnership which took England to touching distance of victory.
With England chasing a potentially tricky target of 125, Marizanne Kapp had turned the screw in the powerplay by sending down two maiden overs and swinging the ball unpredictably enough to trap Maia Bouchier leg-before. The final result might well have been different had she also removed Alice Capsey for a duck three balls later but the catch was spilled by Anneke Bosch at backward point.
By the time Kapp returned to deliver her final over the 15th, Sciver-Brunt had settled in and was able to find the leg-side boundary twice: the over cost 12 runs, ruining Kapp's tidy figures and allowing England to push on to the win.
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