Sciver and Davidson-Richards put England in control over South Africa

A maiden Test century from Nat Sciver, and an equally impressive hundred from Alice Davidson-Richards on Test debut, helped England post 328 for six onday two at Taunton, leading South Africa by 44 runs, to place the hosts in a commanding position with two days left to play.

It was a remarkable recovery by England, who had earlier found themselves 121 for five midway through the afternoon session, after seamer Anneke Bosch bagged three for 59. At that point, No 7 Davidson-Richards appeared to have been sent out with clear instructions to batten down the hatches, progressing slowly and painfully to nine from 42 balls.

Two and a half hours later, she and Sciver had put on a record 207-run partnership for the sixth wicket – not just preventing a routing, but completely turning the tables on South Africa, as the evening session unfolded into all-out attack. Sciver, who has five ODI hundreds, is no stranger to taking apart bowling attacks; but Davidson-Richards has not played a match for England since April 2018 and two weeks ago might justifiably have thought her international career was over. Watching her pepper the South African attack for boundaries across the evening session was therefore sheer delight.

“I’ve always had a deep-rooted faith in how good I could be, and it was just knowing how to get there,” Davidson-Richards said. “Everything that’s happened before has allowed me to get to here and be the player I am now and the person I am now.

“Bowlers are going to bowl good balls, so it was about riding that bit out and trusting the process to get there towards the end.”

She described reaching three figures as “bloody brilliant”, while Sciver said her own century ranked as one of her best moments in international