The 14th match of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 witnessed South Africa holding their nerve against Bangladesh and bagging a three-wicket win. Earlier, at the toss, Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana emerged victorious against her counterpart Laura Wolvaardt and elected to bat first. Bangladesh got a steady start as their openers Fargana Hoque and Rubya Haider stitched a 53-run stand for the opening wicket off 97 balls. Haider departed after scoring 25 off 52 while Hoque concluded her innings after hoarding 30 off 76. Sharmin Akhter and Nigar Sultana Joty stitched a crucial 77-run stand for the third wicket off 91 balls.
Nonkululeko Mlaba got the better of Sultana, who got caught by Wolvaardt after accumulating 32 off 42. Sharmin went on to
rack up 50 runs off 77 deliveries while Shorna Akter, who came at number five, played an unbeaten knock of 51 off 35. With her innings, Shorna became the batter with the fastest fifty in this World Cup. Riding on Shorna's extraordinary batting performance and Ritu Moni's 18 off nine, Bangladesh put up a total of 232/6 in 50 overs. Mlaba registered 2/42 figures in her 10 overs while Nadine de Klerk and Chloe Tyron clinched one wicket apiece.
Chloe Tyron's valiant batting display guided South Africa to complete the target
South Africa lost their opener Tazmin Brits (0 off 1) in the second over but captain Laura and Anneke Bosch stayed at the crease and built a 55-run partnership off 83 balls. In the 15th over, Wolvaardt got run out on her score of 31 (56) and following her departure, South Africa lost their next three wickets in quick succession. With the Protea team reeling at a score of 78/5, Marizanne Kapp and Chloe Tyron stood tall against the bowlers.
Both put together an 85-run partnership for the sixth wicket off 109 balls. Kapp notched up 56 off 71 while Tyron hammered 62 runs after playing 69 balls. In the final overs of the match, Nadine de Klerk again exhibited her match-finishing prowess and scored an unbeaten 37 off 29 to take her team home with three wickets in hand and three balls to spare.Masabata Klass also scored unbeaten 10 runs off 13 balls.
Chloe Tyron's all-round effort got her the player of the match (POTM) award. Bangladesh's next clash is against Australia in Visakhapatnam on October 16 while South Africa will take on Sri Lanka in Colombo on October 18.
