Chloe Tryon stunner helps South Africa beat India to lift the trophy

A stunning display of batting from Chloe Tryon helped South Africa defeat India and lift the trophy in the Tri-series at Buffalo Park in East London on Thursday (February 2). On a surface, that didn't allow batters to play freely, Tryon hit some lusty blows and combined with some batting smarts to take the hosts home from 66 for 5. 

Opting bat first, India batters struggled on a very dry and used surface and South Africa bowlers kept it tight in the power play. Shabnim Ismail started with a couple of maidens for the hosts, while Nonkululeko Mlaba got the bowl to turn and had the big wicket of Smriti Mandhana. 

Having played seven balls without getting off the mark, the southpaw came down the track and was bowled by Mlaba. Although Jemimah Rodrigues and Harleen Deol hit four boundaries to end the power play, India could score only 19 runs at the end of it.

In an attempt to up the ante, Rodrigues became the second wicket of Mlaba when she was stumped for 11 off 18 balls. 

Harmanpreet Kaur walked in with some urgency and scored 15 off her first ten balls, but the surface was hardly conducive to stroke-making and she slowed down in the next few balls. And at the other end, Harleen Deol couldn’t get out of the blocks at all for a long time. The duo added 48 runs for the third wicket at run-a-ball.

Eventually the pressure told on Harmanpreet and she also fell to a stumping with Sune Luus getting the ball to spin across the bat. Deol batted through the innings and got a couple of boundaries to take India over the three-figure mark. 

India ended their innings on 109 for 4 from their stipulated 20 overs. Deol was the top-scorer with a knock of 46 from 54 balls. 

For South Africa, Mlaba was the best bowler as the slow left-arm spinner finished with figures of 2 for 16 from her four overs.

Chasing 110 to win the trophy, South Africa also started in similar veins as the openers played out a maiden. Tazmin Brits tried to break free and came down the track against Rajeshwari  Gayakwad to hit the bowler over long-on for the first six of the match.

Laura Wolvaardt was outfoxed the by the wily Deepti Sharma and was eventually bowled for a nine-ball duck. In the last over of the power play, Sneh Rana struck to remove Britz and Luus started with a boundary as South Africa also ended the power play with 19 runs on the board.

Post the power play, Lara Goodall was bowled by Gayakwad to leave South Africa reeling at 21 for 3 in the seventh over. But that brought Chloe Tryon to the crease and the big hitter started with a couple of boundaries off Devika Vaidya. 

At that moment, it seemed like the shackles were broken and the pair of Luus and Tryon combined to pick up two boundaries off Gayakwad.

With spinners going for runs, India brought pacers into the attack and they were rewarded with the wicket of Luus with as the South Africa skipper top-edged Renuka Singh Thakur for 12.

However, Tryon didn’t let the fall of wickets affect her and South Africa took on the pacer with 12 runs coming of a Thakur over and another 14 off Pooja Vastrakar. Those two overs reduced South Africa’s target to 28 off the last 30 balls.

That forced Harmanpreet to bring back Deepti, but Tryon took on her as well to hit a huge six over cow corner. She eventually brought up her fifty – her first in the format – from 30 balls. The South Africa vice-captain added 46 runs with Nadine de Klerk to take her team to a title.

Brief Scores: India 109/4 in 20 overs (Harleen Deol 46, Harmanpreet Kaur 21; Nonkululeko Mlaba 2/16) lost to South Africa 113/5 in 18 overs (Chloe Tryon 57*, Nadine de Klerk 17*; Sneh Rana 2/21) by five wickets POTM: Chloe Tryon