SOUTH AFRICA v ENGLAND TEST: Day 1 – Complete Control

SOUTH AFRICA v ENGLAND TEST: Day 1 – Complete Control

No one has ever lost a women’s Test having scored more than 300 in the 1st innings, so although there is a first time for everything it feels like England are in complete control having chalked-up 395-9 on Day 1 versus South Africa.

England (395-9) v South Africa (17-0) #ENGvSA 🏏

— CRICKETher (@crickether.com) 2024-12-15T15:18:51.277Z

Maia Bouchier and (who else?) Nat Sciver-Brunt both hit hundreds as England made the most of what looked like a decent track on a windy day in Bloemfontein, which is slap bang in the middle of South Africa on the Highveld – elevated at over 1,400m above sea-level.

Opening the batting on Test debut, Bouchier needed to find a balance between her natural instinct to play carefree, attacking cricket and the fact that this was, after all, a Test match; and she did that pretty effectively for 45 overs to reach her hundred. She did then slightly switch modes – throwing the bat a bit and going for a few more shots, and was inevitably out caught shortly afterwards. (Very, very well caught at slip by Sune Luus – memo to Sophie Ecclestone: if you want to field at slip in Test cricket, this is the sort of catch you should be taking!)

I’d have liked to see Bouchier knuckle-down and push on towards a second hundred – it felt like Tammy Beaumont’s England record score of 208 was there for the taking – but that’s not to take anything away from what she achieved today.

If Bouchier wasn’t going to take Beaumont’s record, then I was sure that Nat Sciver-Brunt would, providing she didn’t run short of partners. She looked in remorseless touch, and was only undone by a freak dismissal – run out at the non-striker’s end after a deflection from the fingertips of Nonkululeko Mlaba. NSB rarely shows emotion on the field, but she was obviously absolutely steaming as a consequence – Amy Jones walked over to try to apologise and… well… let’s just say NSB clearly wasn’t much up for an apology at that particular moment!

England then suffered a little bit of a collapse. Charlie Dean’s role with the bat for England is generally to play sensibly and stick around after the top order have messed up – in other words, to play what we might think of as a “Test match innings”; but when it came to an actual Test match innings, she went a tad too much into defensive mode and ended up in a right pickle to Mlaba – backing off the shot until there was nowhere left to go back to, and then somehow bunting it under her own legs and into the stumps.

England should probably have declared at this point, and given themselves a proper go at South Africa’s batters after a tiring day in the field. When Amy Jones was dismissed shortly afterwards, they definitely should have – they’d have had 13 overs, which could have meant 4 each for the Laurens, and then a handful for Ecclestone and Dean too. There is going to be some real turn on this pitch for Dean, and if Mlaba can walk away with 4 wickets, I’d back Dean to take 5 or 6.

As it was, Heather Knight waited too long for the declaration, and then only had the 6 overs at the South African openers, allowing them to set up camp to block everything, taking them to 17-0 at the close.

We mentioned that no one has ever lost a Test having made 300 in the first innings, but whether England can go on and win this game is another matter entirely. Teams have made more than England’s 395 on 11 occasions in the past, and over half of those matches have ended in a draw – all 3 matches where England have previously scored 395+ ended in draws.  Taking 20 wickets in 4 days is always the problem in women’s Tests – England probably need to take at least 10 tomorrow to have a chance of getting the win.

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