Crucial win for England and they have two wins in as many outings to go to the top of the Group B points table. They bowled 16 overs of spin to restrict South Africa to a par score of 124 and chased it down quite comfortably although the match went till the final over. South Africa were sloppy in the field and the spinners weren't accurate today. They'll be keen to rectify it before their important encounter against West Indies. That's it from this game. Tune in tomorrow for the Group A match between Australia and New Zealand - two unbeaten teams. Same venue and same time. Until then, goodbye...
Heather Knight: Really pleased, that was a really controlled win. The way we controlled the middle overs when they were batting and the way we restricted them, the pitch was slightly better than the other day, but felt it was going to be a tricky chase. Has been really tough to chase here. We controlled that chase brilliantly. Nat - very cool and calm head, Danni and that partnership was outstanding to watch. Really pleased (with the spinners), these are the sort of games I actually love captaining because you feel like you can make a real difference and the girls were outstanding again. Sophie (Ecclestone) was back to her best and the way she bowled, she made it really tough. She seems to get a little bit of bounce, I don't know how, really strange on that wicket. Proper performance, really happy with our energy on the field as well. You could see her (Wyatt-Hodge) getting frustrated out there, she's not used to going at 100 SR, but that's what it's going to take sometimes on these pitches. We have talked a lot about it, just finding a way and she did that brilliantly. Really smart options. We don't play till Sunday, quite a big break, time to get away and explore Dubai, we will refocus after a few days off.
Laura Wolvaardt: Obviously very disappointed. 10-20 more runs with the bat could have been interesting, obviously didn't take our chances in the field either. I didn't feel it was as slow as the first couple of games. When we started batting, we were talking about 140. We lost our way a little bit after the powerplay. You can't ask for much more with the new ball, a bit more control from the spinner would have been better. It's so tough to bowl to these batters who have all the shots. It's difficult to set fields. Must-win games for us, both of them can be pretty tough in these conditions, so definitely we have to be on our A-game.
This is also the highest successful run-chase in Women’s T20Is in Sharjah, bettering 111 by SL-W vs PAK-W in 2015.
Most wins as captain in Women T20Is 76 - Meg Lanning (W/L ratio: 4) 70 - Harmanpreet Kaur (W/L ratio: 1.56) 68 - Charlotte Edwards (W/L ratio: 2.83) 68 - Heather Knight (W/L ratio: 3.58) 42 - Chamari Athapaththu (W/L ratio: 0.81) 42 - Laura Delany (W/L ratio: 1.24)
Of the 34 captains who have led in at least Women T20Is, Knight’s win-loss ratio is bettered only by Meg Lanning.
Sophie Ecclestone | Player of the Match - Quite nice to break records, keep it simple and bowl straight, I always bowl with a smile. Two crucial wickets, Kappy and Wolvaardt, they are quality players, we've some world-class players ourselves. Conditions are quite different here and we've done well to get accustomed to it, keep bowling accurately and you'll get the rewards.
20:54 Local Time, 16:54 GMT, 22:24 IST: Fittingly, it's Nat Sciver-Brunt who hits the winning runs. She's played a gem of an innings here
19.2
Ayabonga Khaka to Nat Sciver-Brunt, FOUR, Nat Sciver-Brunt finishes it off! A lovely shot as well. She shimmies down the pitch, moves leg-side in the process
19.1
Ayabonga Khaka to Nat Sciver-Brunt, no run
Ayabonga Khaka [3.0-0-17-0] is back into the attack
Just 4 runs needed off the final over
18.6
de Klerk to Nat Sciver-Brunt, 1 run, fetches this slow ball from well outside off and pulls through midwicket
18.5
de Klerk to Nat Sciver-Brunt, no run, slower and wide of off, Sciver-Brunt
18.4
de Klerk to Nat Sciver-Brunt, no run, slower ball, Sciver-Brunt waits and cuts to point
18.3
de Klerk to Nat Sciver-Brunt, FOUR, straighter line
18.2
de Klerk to Knight, leg byes, 1 run, shuffles across a long way to reverse-sweep and the ball rolls to short third man off her leg. The impact is miles outside off
South Africa Women
England Women
