Marizanne Kapp put up a superb, history-making all-round show in Manchester on Sunday, scoring an unbeaten 81 and taking two wickets (2/27) to help South Africa beat India in the last over of the crucial 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup match. In the process, she became the first cricketer to score more than 70 runs and take two or more wickets in the same match in the tournament’s history.
Kapp struggled with the ball in the powerplay as India got off to a quick start. But she made sure to finish the first innings strong, taking the huge wickets of Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh to restrict the Women in Blue to 158/7. The chase was similarly tricky for the Proteas, who were 25/2 in the powerplay when Kapp came to bat. But she put up a 95-run partnership
with Tazmin Brits, and when she got out, the senior all-rounder finished the game off by smashing 22 runs off her last seven balls.
“It was a tough game,” Kapp said after collecting the Player of the Match award. “Playing India is always extremely tough and I’m very proud of the team for coming back this game the way we did… I struggled, really struggled those first 10, 15 balls and eventually got my timing and then I just put my head down and I felt like that partnership with Taz (Brits) set it up beautifully for us… You can’t let it get away from you too far, but you also cannot lose more wickets. So we just said, if we don’t let it get past 10 runs and over, trusting the big hitters at the back. And we just put our heads down and as soon as we looked to be a bit more positive, it worked for us,” she added.
It was also the third-highest score by a South African batter in Women’s T20 World Cup history and the second-highest in a tournament chase. Her four sixes were the most by a South African in a Women’s T20 World Cup innings and equalled the record for the most in a World Cup run-chase.
