Women's World Cup 2025: Brits' ton, Luus shine as South Africa clinch six-wicket

Tazmin Britsrsquo superb 101 along with an unbeaten 83 from Sune Luus powered South Africa to a commanding sixwicket victory over New Zealand in their Womenrsquos World Cup clash at the Holkar Stadium on MondayChasing 232 Proteas were on a roll as the openers Brits and Laura Wolvaardt kept the scoring rate high early in the inningsView this post on InstagramA post shared by Cricket Circle 07 Cricket Updates Stats cricketcircle07Brits and Wolvaardt smashed three boundaries in the first two overs of the powerplay to set the tone of their chase The Proteas captain hammered two more boundaries in the next over before falling to Jess Kerr on the score of 14Sune Luus joined Brits in the middle and carried the momentum deep in the innings as the duo snatched the match away from New Zealand After a brief caution Luus and Brits kept finding boundaries at regular intervals to keep the run rate over five throughout their inningsSouth Africa were 541 after the end of the powerplay Brits hit Sophie Devine for two fours in the 11th over to continue putting pressure on White FernsIn the 13th over Luus too joined the party with the first six of the match off Amelia Kerr The boundaries kept coming from both ends as New Zealand bowlers failed to assert any noticeable halt to the scoring rateSouth Africa reached the threefigure mark in the 17th over with both batters cruising to their halfcenturies Brits was the first to reach the halfcentury with a four towards longon in the 19th over Brits upped the ante after completing her fifty as the duo stitched their fifth century partnership in ODIs in 2025 the most by a South African pair in a calendar yearThey also broke the previous record for the highest World Cup partnership for any wicket for South Africa bettering 128run stand between Marizanne Kapp ampamp Dane van Niekerk for the sixth wicket against Pakistan in Cuttack in 2013Meanwhile Luus also raced to her halfcentury as South reached 1591 after 26 overs The flow of run remained steady as South Africa were marching towards a commanding victory before a runput appeal by wicketkeeper give a slight tension in Proteas dugout However the replay showed that Brits comfortably landed her foot inside the crease before Isabella Gaze took off the bailsThe pair raised up 150run stand before Brits reached her fifth ODI century of the year to score most hundreds in a calendar year surpassing Smriti Mandhanas record of four tons in the ongoing year Brits also took the fewest 41 innings to reach to seven ODI centuriesJust after reaching the triplefigure mark Brits was cleaned up by Lea Tahuhu to give some respite to the Kiwi camp Her stellar innings of 101 in 89 balls including 15 fours and a solitary sixNew Zealand tried to make a comeback in the match as they removed Marizanne Kapp 14 and Anneke Bosch 0 cheaply but there was not enough runs left on the board to defend as Luus and Sinalo Jafta remained unbeaten on 83 and 6 respectively as South Africa chased the target with 55 balls to spareFor New Zealand Amelia Kerr bagged two scalps while Jess Kerr and Lea Tahuhu got hold of one wicket eachEarlier leftarm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba starred with a fourwicket haul as South Africa bowled out New Zealand for 231 despite a fighting 85 from Sophie DevineOpting to bat first Kiwis had a worst possible start as they lost veteran opener Suzie Bates on a duck that too on the first ball of the match in her 350th international game for New Zealand She was trapped in front of the wickets by Proteas pacer Marizanne Kapp to put White Ferns under pressure It was Bates second consecutive duck in the tournament after failing to score against Australia at the same venueHowever Georgia Plimmer and Amelia Kerr staged a comeback for their side with a 44run crucial partnership for the second wicket After the early setback the duo took a cautious approach and dragged the side to 381 after the end of the powerplayThe partnership was put to an end by Nadine de Klerk in the 13th over as she removed Amelia Kerr for 23 New Zealand captain Sophie Devine joined Plimmer in the middle and the duo engaged in another vital stand as South Africa didnt give a chance to score freely despite the end of the powerplayDevine and Plimmer added a 57run stand for the third wicket with the former contributing more than half of the runs Chloe Tryon brought the third scalp for Proteas with Plimmer handing a simple catch to Nadine de Klerk at longon reducing New Zealand to 1013 after 254 oversBrooke Hallidays arrival at the crease lifted the scoring rate for New Zealand with Devine also supporting from the other end Halliday played shots to her will and scored boundaries at regular intervalsMeanwhile Devine completed her 17th ODI halfcentury and continued to hold one end strong as the Kiwis crossed the 150run mark Nonkululeko Mlaba broke the 86run partnership by removing Halliday in the 39th over Halliday contributed a quickfire 45 in 37 balls laced with six foursNew Zealand faltered after that and lost Maddy Green 4 and Isabella Gaze 10 quickly before Mlaba bowled out Devine for 85 in the 45th over to bring New Zealands innings to its decisive end Devinersquos knock was studded with nine fours and came at a crucial juncture for the side while featuring in her 300th international gameMlaba returned with the figures of 440 in her 10 overs to bundle out New Zealand for 23110 in 475 oversBrief Scores New Zealand 23110 in 475 overs Sophie Devine 85 Brooke Halliday 45 Nonkululeko Mlaba 440 lost to South Africa 2344 in 405 overs Tanzim Brits 101 Sune Luus 83 not out Amelia Kerr 262 by six wicketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever