Alice Capsey’s bat inspires England to victory over South Africa

Having thoroughly trounced South Africa through bilateral matches this summer, England’s women delivered them one last defeat to all but qualify for a Commonwealth Games semi-final in T20 cricket. Teenage sensation Alice Capsey was again the key for England’s batting, with an even 50 out of 167 for five. South Africa never looked like meeting that pace in the chase, finishing on 141 for four.

With regular captain Heather Knight still moving about on crutches with a hip injury, Capsey has made the most of her absence. Her innings of 44 on Commonwealth Games debut steadied a wobbling run chase against Sri Lanka last Sunday, then she backed it up with her first half-century for England in this match. Capsey is still nine days short of her 18th birthday, but is aiming to start the party early after the gold medal match this Sunday night.

South African speedster Shabnim Ismail started her team on the right note, firing off a swinging yorker with her first ball that went straight through Sophia Dunkley and flattened leg stump. But that brought Capsey to the crease, who smashed three balls over the off-side field in one Nadine de Klerk over after Danni Wyatt had scored boundaries of her own from the first two balls.

Ismail returned to take Wyatt’s edge for a catch behind for 27, but Capsey carried on, flaying four from the spearhead and a couple more from the hapless de Klerk, who was put on ice for the day having conceded 34 from two overs.

Still, from 79 for 2 at the halfway mark, England did manage to stammer. Stand-in captain Natalie Sciver nicked a ball behind from Anneke Bosch, Capsey charged the spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba and chipped a return catch after raising her milestone, then Maia Bouchier was run out next ball