South Africa 193 for 3 (Bosch 65, Tunnicliffe 52*, Mavunga 1-25) beat Zimbabwe 129 for 7 (Mutasa 30*, Naidu 3-26, Bosch 2-5) by 64 runs

After choosing to bat, Laura Wolvaardt, somewhat surprisingly, struggled to find fluency upfront and it was up to Bosch to play the aggressor. She scored the first three boundaries, before Wolvaardt had found one and was on 23 off 11 balls when Wolvaardt was given out lbw for a run-a-ball 10.

Bosch went on to score a 24-ball fifty, with nine fours and shared in a 64-run second-wicket stand with Nondumiso Shangase. The pair set South Africa up for a total in excess of 200. They were on 99 for 1 in the 11th over when Bosch tried to hit Michelle Mavunga over the covers but sliced the ball to Nomvelo Sibanda who took a simple catch. In the next over, Shangase tried to hack a ball that was already going down leg, popped it up instead and Christine Mutasa took a well-judged catch at short fine to end her innings.

Tunnicliffe gave herself a sighter and scored four runs off the first nine balls she faced before she struck her first boundary. From there, she showed off an array of aerial shots, especially on the off side and raced to fifty off 33 balls. Tunnicliffe and Annerie Dercksen’s fourth-wicket stand lasted for 50 balls and was worth 88*.

Zimbabwe’s highest successful chase in T20Is is 120, so 194 was always going to be a difficult ask. It became more so when Sharne Mayers played Eliz-Mari Marx onto her stumps off the third ball of the reply.

The rest of Zimbabwe’s top order got starts but were unable to dig in or move the score forward meaningfully. Kelis Ndlovu hit Nthabiseng Nini through the covers for an authoritative four but then swung across the line and top-edged. Nini took a good return catch almost at the batter’s end of the pitch. Beloved Biza was on 10 off 4 balls when she sent Naidu to deep mid-wicket where Bosch was waiting. In the same over, Loreen Tshuma played a lovely late cut for four and then gave Naidu a simple return catch. Nyasha Gwanzura, who top-scored with 18, was bowled by a classic legspin delivery as she tried to go big. At 51 for 5, Zimbabwe were all but out of it.

There was still time for Bosch’s golden arm to give her two wickets in two overs, both lbw decisions which left Zimbabwe 84 for 7 in the 14th over. South Africa may have foreseen an early end to the match but a 45-run eighth-wicket stand between Christine Mutasa and Sibanda ensured Zimbabwe batted out the 20 overs while 17-year-old Mutasa’s 30* was more than all the runs she had scored in eight T20Is before this.