SA suffers big defeat in warm-up game

South Africa was bundled out for 105 by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association City Juniors, which chased down the target with 29 balls and five wickets to spare, in a warm-up match at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium.

Marizanne Kapp scored more than half of South Africa's total.

With many of its players playing under the lights for the first time, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) City Juniors made short work of the South Africa women’s team at the M. A. Chidambaram stadium in the ICC World Twenty20 warm-up game on Saturday.

Chasing a measly 105 to win, the TNCA under-17 boys, who played the match instead of the Pakistan women’s team, toyed with South Africa’s bowling attack, speeding to victory with 29 balls and nine wickets to spare.

Openers S. Abhishek (50 off 45 balls) and Praveen Kumar (50 off 45 balls) raced to 31 in five overs. Abhishek, especially, was aggressive, scoring three fours of the fifth bowled by medium-pacer Marizanne Kapp. He also hit three shots over the ropes, including two in a row off Dan van Niekerk in the ninth over.

Abhishek and Praveen put on a 101-run stand before Praveen was caught and bowled by Sune Luus at the end of the 14th over. Audhi Sachin, coming in at three, finished the match off a cover drive.

The City Juniors innings, however, was stretched till the end of 20 overs so that the teams got more practice.

Early damage

Earlier, the TNCA under-17 boys restricted the South Africans to 104 for five after South Africa won the toss and chose to bat.

The TNCA boys struck early, with medium-pacer Nidish Rajagopal dismissing van Niekerk and skipper Mignon du Preez, who came in at three, for less than four runs. Van Niekerk was out without scoring, after holing out a catch to Tamim Ansari at point. Nidish then got rid of du Preez with an outswinger, which the latter nicked to the slips.

But Trisha Chetty (21 off 37 balls) and Marizanne Kapp (53 off 55 balls) revived the innings with a 54-run stand for the third wicket. Neither could, however, hasten the scoring rate that trudged from the beginning of the innings. The pair just ensured there wasn’t further damage to the South African innings and tried to set a platform for the following batsmen.

Left-arm spinner Thameem Ansari broke their stand after Trisha’s lofted drive was caught by Raaj Kumar at long-on. The rest of South Africa's innings gathered little momentum, as it finished with a mediocre total.

Brief scores: South Africa 104 for five in 20 overs (Marizanne Kapp 53 n.o., Nidish Rajgopal two for seven) lost to TNCA City Juniors 108 for one in 15.1 overs (S. Abhishek 50 n.o., Praveen Kumar 50)