Key events
That, then is us. A terrific Test is in the books; check back in here or on-site for Raf Nicholson’s match report, which’ll be live shortly. But otherwise, peace out.
The performances of Bell and Filer mean that Heather Knight has a selection poser. Dropping one or other won’t be easy, but Kate Cross will have to come back in; Ryana MadDonald-Gay might be the one to make way.
That series begins on Saturday 11 January – we will, of course, be bringing it to you – and even thinking about it has got me going.
Next for England, of course, is the small matter of The Ashes: three ODIs, three T20s, one Test. We all know what happens to medium pace in Australia, so the way Bell and Filer bowled, in conditions most similar to those awaiting them in January, will make them hard to leave out.
Knight lifts the trophy and her players cheers. They’ve been great in this match, though they won’t like how they batted today, and the form of their quicks, in the absence of Kate Cross, is extremely encouraging.
Heather Knight is smiling hard and rightly so. Only three members of the squad played in England’s last Test win and there’ve been some difficult draws and defeats.
She praises Maia Bouchier and Nat Sciver-Brunt, who scored so quickly on day one that England were in control of the match throughout. She also has great words for MacDonald-Grey then, on Bell, notes that she’s had trouble with consistency in the past, but was great here.
Otherwise, she compliments a great Test track, was pleased with her own knock today, and that’s all she’s got for us.
Laura Wolvaardt is disappointed, but congratulates England, who played well. She praises Mlaba, who was “wonderful”, especially the way she came back on day one, she’d love to play more Test cricket and that’s the only way you can learn – the nets only offer so much. It’s been a busy year, so now’ the time to reflect before they go away again in January.
Lauren Bell is player of the match
“It’s amazing,” she says of her 8-76 in the match. You learn through the game, she says, and though the wind wasn’t easy the pitch helped. So she just had to bowl the same delivery over and over again, she explains, and though she’s a work in progress a performance like that tells her she’s going well – though Filer and MacDonald-Gay were also great.
The pitch was helpful, offering bounce, grubbers and cracks, but the speed, line and length Filer and Bell hit today was fantastic. The winning margin of 286 is a record for them in Tests, and this is the first they’ve won since beating Australia in January 2014.
Throughout the match there’s been a sense that England are just a bit too good for South Africa. And so this last couple of hours has proved, Bell and Filer hurling heat as head were mislaid; much as we can criticise the batting, the bowling was nasty.
But don’t allow what’s just happened to obscure the good things SA did: there were some good knocks in their first innings, Mlaba took tenfer, and there’s plenty on which they can build.
WICKET! Mlaba run out (Bell) 15 (South Africa 64 all out) England win by 286 runs!
Abject from South Africa, awesome from England.
Oh my goodness me, Malaba is miles inside her crease, but tries to avoid the throw and when ball breaks stumps, bat and feet are in the air! What a way to go!
20th over: South Africa 65-8 (Sekhukhune 5, Mlaba 15) Target 351 Six fielders around the bat now, but it’s four fours in a row when Sekhukhune clobbers just past Beaumont’s ear and to the fence at deep square. A single follows, then an appeal for leg before, rejected. So Mlaba goes down the ground, Bell wears it on the shin, shies, hits, and is that that? I think she’s in, but she’ neither grounded bat nor slid. Upstairs we go..
19th over: South Africa 59-8 (Sekhukhune 0, Mlaba 14) Target 351 Bell finally has a rest, MacDonald-Gay given a twirl, and Sekhukhune forces a single into the on side. We learn that the injured Hlbi won’t bat, so this is the final wicket, and Mlaba plans to get all the runs herself, opening the face to slash four through backward point before flaying over mid-off for for more. Her 10 makes her her side’s top scorer, and to emphasise the point she throws hands again, toe-ending to the fence at deep backward point for three boundaries on the spin.
18th over: South Africa 46-8 (Sekhukhune 0, Mlaba 2) Target 351 On a king pair, Mlaba – who ought to have her feet up, a cool beverage, and her teammates fanning her, is back in the middle. She plays her first delivery to cover, then swipes to midwicket and they run two/
WICKET! Kapp c Beaumont b Ecclestone 21 (South Africa 44-8)
Ripper! Ecclestone, into her fourth over and still to concede a run, finds a bit of extra bounce outside off. So Kapp fences and, at silly point, Beaumont vaults forward for a crouch, holding on to a beauty inches off the ground and inches from the popping crease. This has been an amazing passage.
16th over: South Africa 44-7 (Kapp 10, Sekhukhune 0) Target 351 The lowest total in women’s Tests is 35, scored by England against Australia in 1958; SA’s lowest is 76 against Australia earlier this year.
17th over: South Africa 44-7 (Kapp 10, Sekhukhune 0) Target 351 Yup, Bell continues and when one lobs up to short leg, there’s an appeal, but think Sekhukhune hid her bat, just about, and the umpire agrees. Another maiden, and still 20 overs left in the day.
16th over: South Africa 44-7 (Kapp 10, Sekhukhune 0) Target 351 Ecclestone wheels through a swift maiden, and will Bell get another over? You’d have to think so; you’d certainly not want to try getting the ball off her.
“Re the Dercksen catch,” writes David Herbert, “the right decision might have been made, but South Africa had no such recourse when Laura Wolvaardt smashed it into her pads in the first innings. Either there is DRS or we accept human error, we can’t have a hybrid where no one is clear what gets reviewed and what doesn’t.”
It wasn’t England who sought recourse, it was the umpire, so we can assume something happened to stop her seeing properly because I’m absiolutely certian they know the laws.
15th over: South Africa 44-7 (Kapp 10, Sekhukhune 0) Target 351 Bell goes around to the left-handed new batter, who just about contrives an inside-edge on to the pad, else she too was hutchwards bound. Bell has 4-27 off eight!
WICKET! Jafta lbw b Bell 0 (South Africa 44-7)
AND THAT’S NOT THE END OF IT! Full, pitched up, swinging in … and it’s far too good for Jafta who, head gone, waves bat without authority, and when the ball hits the back pad, you know she’s gone. Eight in the match for Bell; might she too manage tenfer?
15th over: South Africa 44-6 (Kapp 21, Jafta 0) Target 351 To her credit, Kapp is batting with aggression and tenacity, shoving four to cover then clattering four more through the same area, next ball. A two and a one follow, Bell presumably flagging on her eighth over, but 3-27 is a presentable and entirely merited return.
14th over: South Africa 33-6 (Kapp 10, Jafta 0) Target 351 Looking again, with DRS Tryon might’ve got an umpire’s call. But there isn’t one, she knows there isn’t one, and she padded one away from in front of the pegs; it’s hard to sympathise.
WICKET! Tryon lbw b Ecclestone 0 (South Africa 33-6)
Oh dear, this is hard to watch now. Ecclestone tries an arm ball, really tight line, and Tryon shoulders arms, offering pad. She might be outside the line at impact, but because she plays no shot, she’s given out because her stumps were history.
14th over: South Africa 33-5 (Kapp 10, De Klerk 0) Target 351 Lovely ball from Ecclestone, looping, dipping, and bouncing, narrowly avoiding the shoulder of Tryon’s bat.
13th over: South Africa 33-5 (Kapp 10, De Klerk 0) Target 351 I said earlier that this has been an entertaining contest and it has – it still is – but it’s never quite got close. England, though, will be buzzing with how nasty this opening pair look, though Kapp adds two to cover. So Bell tries an inswinging yorker, which she digs out well, then just about manages a toe-end on one homing in towards her stumps.
12th over: South Africa 31-5 (Kapp 8, Tryon 0) Target 351 We can criticise the batting, which hasn’t been ideal, and the running just there, which was silly, but the story here is how beautifully England have bowled with the match there to be grabbed.
WICKET! De Klerk run out 0 (South Africa 31-5)
A pair for De Klerk, but why didn’t she ground her bat, never mind drive? I’ll tell you why: pressure.
12th over: South Africa 31-4 (Kapp 8, De Klerk 0) Target 351 Filer’s off … so Ecclestone can come on. Or, in other words, it’s not getting any more pleasant for the Saffers. Brains are frazzled out there, and when Kapp opens the face to ease behind, De Klerk sets off, Jones fields the throw nicely, and breaks the stumps. We go upstairs, but I’m sure that’s gawn.
11th over: South Africa 31-4 (Kapp 8, De Klerk 0) Target 351 Bell roasts De Klerk outside off, doing her with pace and bounce that is so nasty the batter can’t even muster an edge. We said it at tea, but don’t be surprised if this ends tonight.
WICKET! Luus b Bell 1 (South Africa 31-4)
What a spell this is from England’s openers. Bell’s first delivery keeps low, then second pitches outside off, punkt on a length, and another one jags in, this time cracking off-stump! This is the end, beautiful friend, the end
10th over: South Africa 31-3 (Luus 1, Kapp 8) Target 351 Eeeesh, after a dot and a leg bye, Filer bangs one in and finds abittabounce, catching Kapp on the arm; not nice. But Kapp isn’t behind the door in attacking herself, and offered a little width, just back of a length, she presses forward and down on to one knee, smoking four through cover, then driving four more to long on. Lovely work.
9th over: South Africa 22-3 (Luus 1, Kapp 0) Target 351 There’s no DRS in this match, so the umpire must’ve blinked, been unsighted or similar. England were very confident and it looked out to me both at the time and on replay, so I don’t suppose SA have much about which they can complain: the correct decision was reached.
WICKET! Dercksen c Beaumont b Bell 9 (South Africa 22-3)
Yup, Dercksen comes forward, ball flicks inside edge then pad, as far as I can see, and South Africa are in terrible trouble. This has been a helluva spell from the England openers.
9th over: South Africa 22-2 (Dercksen 9, Luus 1) Target 351 Bell lopes in and Luus opens the face, earning one to deep third, then angling in one that then moves away and Dercksen edges … just shy of Ecclestone at one. She needs to stand closer, I think, because we’ve seen the pitch deadening bounces, but forget that, next ball Dercksen is beaten, there’s an appeal for a bat-pad catch at short leg, and the umpire says no! I’m not sure about that – I think there was willow involved – and she must’ve blinked or something, because after a quick conference with her square-leg counterpart, we go upstairs for another look…
8th over: South Africa 17-2 (Dercksen 5, Luus 0) Target 351 Dercksen narrowly avoids imparting an edge when pinned on the crease, but she’s affecting enjoyment, grinning broadly after putting bat on a straighter one. A bouncer follows, ducked, and the over ends with a Filer extracting a bit of extra bounce, Dercksen just about fending off. Maiden, and this is excellent gear from England’s openers.
7th over: South Africa 17-2 (Dercksen 5, Luus 0) Target 351 Bell is looking to slant in at the stumps from wide, and eventually Dercksen flashes, waving a bat at one that’s a little wider to guide four past the second of two slips. That’s her off the mark, and when Bell strays down leg, she helps the ball around the corner and they add one more.
6th over: South Africa 12-2 (Dercksen 0, Luus 0) Target 351 Filer flies in again, finishing off her pre-tea over and completing a wicket-maiden.
