England Women vs South Africa Women, 4th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

That ends things well before the scheduled innings break. That's how quick the game got over and had England gone for it harder, it would have been over even earlier. Still England would be so happy while South Africa would be gutted. On that note we sign off from here. We will be back tomorrow for more World Cup action. Do join us then. For now it's bye bye from all of us here.

Nat Sciver-Brunt | England captain: Yeah, massively pleased. It just seemed like everyone was really on it in the field. We had a few first-ball wickets as well, so yeah, it all clicked into action for us. (Linsey Smith) She just stuck to her strengths, I think. Obviously, she’s a left-arm spinner but can swing the ball. So, yeah, I guess we knew she was a really good match-up to those two batters, who have scored a lot of runs, like you say, in the lead-up to this tournament. So, yeah, we knew that was an important partnership to break. (on the spin strength) Yes, definitely, and Sarah Glenn is on the bench as well. So, yes, we’re very fortunate that we’ve got a lot of talented cricketers in our squad, and obviously that makes the decision very difficult. I’m going to review things with the staff today and focus hard on the next match.

Laura Wolvaardt | South African captain: Not our best work with the bat, but in saying that, I don’t think we’ve become a bad batting unit overnight. I think this team has shown a lot of resilience in the past, so still a long tournament ahead of us. We’ll be looking to put this behind us as quick as we can and move on to the next game. (what they could have done differently) Obviously they bowled really well with the new ball. I think Linsey Smith was excellent with the new ball. We probably didn’t expect that much swing or didn’t play for that much swing. We probably could have played straighter lines. Yeah, probably a bit pushy at the ball as well. I think later on, we could have been a bit more calm, hit it off the ground, get ourselves in a bit better. (on Khaka) No, she’s all right. We just found that she could be very effective for us this tournament in the middle. So we just wanted to try that a bit today, get the spin on early, see if that worked. (message to the team) I think just to keep trusting that what we’ve done is good in the past. I think we’ve had really good preparation. We’re really well-informed and have a really good coaching staff as well. So putting this game behind us, moving forward as fast as we can. In a tournament like this, you’ve got to have a short memory on games like this and come out with a lot of good intent in the next game.

Stats by Shashikant Singh

Most balls remaining in successful chases for ENG-W in ODIs
243 vs SA-W, Cuttack, 2013 WC (target: 78)
241 vs WI-W, Loughborough, 2008 (target: 42)
231 vs IND-W, Nelson, 1982 WC (target: 62)
215 vs SA-W, Guwahati, 2025 WC (target: 70)*

This is second 10-wicket win over South Africa Women in ODI World Cups after Australia’s at Bengaluru in 1997 (target: 164).

10-wicket victories for ENG-W in World Cups
vs IND-W, Nelson, 1982 (target: 62)
vs IRE-W, Melbourne, 1988 (target: 110)
vs SA-W, Guwahati, 2025 (target: 70)*

This is the first 10 wickets victory for England Women against South Africa Women in ODIs.

England Women have beaten South Africa Women in 7 out of their last 8 matches in ODIs. And in World Cups, they have a 7-2 superior record against Proteas Women.

Linsey Smith | Player of the Match: Obviously really delighted with how we went. To get that start was really special. But most importantly got a big win today. Yesterday Lottie spoke to me and told me I would be opening the bowling, which I was excited about. Obviously, tough challenge, but I think, yeah, conditions were really suiting me today, so I’m lucky I could do well. (key to her success) I think just backing myself and not over-complicating it too much. Keep it pretty simple, just try and bowl at the stumps as much as possible, and yeah, it came off today. (on the spin trio) Like you say, there’s huge talent in the squad, and everyone’s pushing for places, which is always good. But I think we all offer different things, offer different parts of the game. So for us, hopefully we can just keep learning and growing as a unit.

17:53 Local Time, 12:23 GMT, 17:53 IST: What a start for England. Against a strong South African side who were in form too, they have dismantled them. The bowlers did the job as South Africa collapsed to 69 all-out. From then it was a no-contest. England ideally would have liked to have won quicker to ensure NRR is healthy for the later stages but they would still be elated at this win. A 10-wicket win is a statement of sorts. South Africa on the other end would want to forget this game as a bad dream and move on. It was a wretched day for them and they would be hoping this is a one-off. They were undone by Linsey Smith's sliders and from there, they never recovered. In the chase, Beaumont struggled but didn't give it away, Amy Jones on the other hand was fluent and she struck the boundaries. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff..