While they came out on top in a gruelling match yesterday, taking an unassailable 2-0 series lead, the Proteas Women have a lot to play for in the third and final one-day international (ODI) against Pakistan in Durban on Sunday.

The Citizen reports that batting first in the midweek clash in Centurion, the South African team racked up 375/6 (the national side’s second-highest ODI total), and though Pakistan dug deep, they were bowled out for 345 in the final over of their innings.

South Africa held on for a narrow 16-run win in a high-scoring fixture which saw the total match aggregate going beyond 700 runs for only the second time in a women’s ODI game.

Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt again admitted their fielding was not up to scratch, and she also felt the home team’s bowlers had not been tidy enough with the ball, allowing the tourists to stay in the hunt until the death.

“We dropped a few catches today. I sound like a broken record with this fielding, but it’s definitely something we have to improve on,” Wolvaardt said after the game.

“I think we could have been just a little better with the ball. There were 30 extras, so we really need to tighten up on that.”

‘We made it more difficult’

All-rounder Annerie Dercksen, who hit 90 runs off 68 balls and took 3/59 to be named player of the match yesterday, agreed with the skipper that the Proteas could work on their bowling this weekend.

“It will be new conditions, and we’ll have a look at the bowling, maybe how we can tighten up in the middle a bit,” Dercksen said.

“I think we did well to pull this game through in the end, but we probably made it more difficult for ourselves than it should have been.”

Chasing championship points

While the SA squad had already won the series, Wolvaardt said Sunday’s fixture is still a crucial match as they aim to rake in points in the early stages of the 2025-2029 Women’s ODI Championship, which served as the qualifying competition for the next edition of the Women’s Cricket World Cup.

“We need to take all the points we can get… so I definitely think we’ll be bringing our best cricket to Durban.”

Sunday’s game will be the annual Black Day women’s match, raising awareness of gender-based violence.

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