Indore: Tazmin Brits’ superb 101, along with an unbeaten 83 from Sune Luus, powered South Africa to a commanding six-wicket victory over New Zealand in their Women’s World Cup clash at the Holkar Stadium on Monday.
Chasing 232, Proteas were on a roll as the openers Brits and Laura Wolvaardt kept the scoring rate high early in the innings.
Brits 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 14.
Sune 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 innings.
South Africa were 54/1 after the end of the powerplay. Brits hit Sophie Devine for two fours in the 11th over to continue putting pressure on White Ferns.
In 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 rate.
South Africa reached the three-figure mark in the 17th over with both batters cruising to their half-centuries. Brits was the first to reach the half-century with a four towards long-on 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 year.
They also broke the previous record for the highest World Cup partnership for any wicket for South Africa, bettering 128-run stand between Marizanne Kapp & Dane van Niekerk for the sixth wicket against Pakistan in Cuttack in 2013.
Meanwhile, Luus also raced to her half-century as South reached 159/1 after 26 overs. The flow of run remained steady as South Africa were marching towards a commanding victory before a run-put 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 bails.
The pair raised up 150-run stand before Brits reached her fifth ODI century of the year to score most hundreds in a calendar year surpassing Smriti Mandhana's record of four tons in the ongoing year. Brits also took the fewest (41) innings to reach to seven ODI centuries.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba starred with a four-wicket haul as South Africa bowled out New Zealand for 231, despite a fighting 85 from Sophie Devine.
Mlaba returned with the figures of 4-40 in her 10 overs to bundle out New Zealand for 231/10 in 47.5 overs.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 231/10 in 47.5 overs (Sophie Devine 85, Brooke Halliday 45; Nonkululeko Mlaba 4-40) lost to South Africa 234/4 in 40.5 overs (Tanzim Brits 101, Sune Luus 83 not out; Amelia Kerr 2-62) by six wickets. IANS
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