A determined half-century from captain Charlotte Edwards steered England’s women to a nine-wicket demolition of South Africa at the Essex County Ground in the first of three Twenty20 Internationals.
After England had restricted the tourists to 89 runs, Edwards, backing up from a match-winning century in the second one-day international against India’s women at Scarborough, played a commanding innings, striking nine boundaries and taking just 54 balls to make 62 runs as she swept her side to victory.
In the process, the captain became the first player, man or woman, to face 2000 Twenty20 international deliveries.
“I’m hitting the ball well,” said Edwards. “And it’s important when you’re in this kind of form that you continue that and not give your wicket away.
Sarah Taylor, who finished on 21, came to the crease after Lauren Winfield was forced to run around the bowler, Moseline Daniels, on her way to the striker’s end and was caught short by a direct hit from Dane van Niekerk.
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It was the only wicket South Africa could manage, as England cruised past the target in the 14th over, much to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd of more than 3,000 in Chelmsford.
The Essex club has proved to be a leader in its ability to draw a sizeable crowd for stand alone women’s Twenty20 matches and England were only too happy to return to the ECG, the venue for their 15 run victory over Australia last summer.
“I just love it,” Edwards said. “These are the games you want to be part of as a player.
“You want to bat out there and you want a crowd and you want people to enjoy your performances.
“It’s a place we love coming to play and we’ve been very successful at and hopefully they’ll keep coming back and we’ll keep coming back.”
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It was always going to be a difficult proposition for a young South African team, which suffered a nine-wicket defeat at the hands of England when the two sides last met, in the World Twenty20 semi-final in April.
England had laid the foundations for their victory with miserly bowling and sharp fielding.
Katherine Brunt, playing in her second match since undergoing back surgery earlier this year, generated early swing and beat the bat consistently before inducing the edge from opener Trisha Chetty.
Her enthusiastic celebrations perhaps reflected the fact it was her first wicket since January 13, on the final day of the Test against Australia at the WACA.
Van Niekerk and Mignon du Preez formed the only significant partnership of South Africa’s innings, adding 51 runs, before van Niekerk attempted a reverse sweep off Dani Hazell only to watch the ball clatter into middle stump.
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Natalie Sciver ran out Lizelle Lee and then claimed the prize scalp of du Preez thanks to an outstanding diving catch from Lydia Greenway at deep mid-wicket.
“I think we were exceptional tonight and the way we bowled, it’s going to be a tough proposition for any team with our opening bowlers at the moment,” said Edwards. “I thought we bowled and fielded brilliantly and we were clinical with the bat and that’s what we expect of this England team and we delivered probably our best performance of the summer.”