India restrict SA to 215/8 despite Laura Wolvaardt’s solid fifty

India have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

Both Wolvaardt and Brits were comfortable against Indian bowlers even though there was a hint of varied bounce, which was evident when pacer Pooja Vastrakar beat the defence of Sune Luus (13) with a delivery that stayed close to her ankle.

However, the SA openers found a way to tackle that, as they hardly opted for aerial shots and collected their runs more pragmatically with singles, twos and the occasional power shots.

Brits’ six off left-arm spinner Radha Yadav over mid-wicket following a little shimmy down the track was the lone moment of explosion.

At the other end, Wolvaardt maintained a strike-rate over 100 without ever really taking undue risks.

The tourists crossed the 100-run mark in the 18th over but their fortunes turned around when pacer Arundhati Reddy pulled off an excellent return catch to dismiss a set Wolvaardt.

Arundhati later produced an even better caught and bowled effort to jettison Anneke Bosch as India twisted the knife through SA’s batting unit under Arundhati (2/36) and off-spinner Deepti Sharma (2/27), who was hard to score off.

However, South Africa also had their own indiscretions to blame for the downfall.

Brits and Nondumise Shangase (16) charged out for non-existing singles to get run out just when they were looking to upshift the gears.

From a lofty 102 for no loss in 19.5 overs, South Africa lost the next eight wickets for 113 runs as India placed themselves firmly on course for a 3-0 series clean sweep. PTI UNG KHS