Tazmin Brits continues to shine for Proteas Women in West Indies
Proteas Women opening batter Tazmin Brits put up another dominant display of batting on Friday night to help her team beat the West Indies by 50 runs in the first T20 of the series.
Despite the slow wicket, Brits took command of the innings with her 98 not out, infused with 9x4 and 4x6. The South Africans lost two big, early wickets that put them on the back foot.
Captain Laura Wolvaardt and veteran all rounder Marizanne Kapp fell easily before Nadine de Klerk could step in.
Considered as one of the "dawgs" in the team for her hitting capabilities, De Klerk proved to be a good partner to tag along with Brits' momentum.
Together, Brits and de Klerk put up a massive 71-run partnership.
But West Indian bowler Jahazar Claxton was on fire and got her third wicket of the day after removing De Klerk for 21 runs.
Chloe Tryon was unfortunately run out on 16 runs before she could do some real damage with the bat. Annerie Dercksen also fell cheaply, losing her wicket for five runs at the tail end.
Brits continued to steamroll her way through the innings amid the fall of wickets, and went on to put up the highest Proteas women score against the West Indies.
The 34-year-old led her team to a comfortable score of 183/6 in their 20 overs, asking a bit too much from the hosts.
The Proteas bowling contingent did not let the West Indies top order get going, and were at 10/2 by the end of the third over.
Kapp put that experience to good use, striking early blows for the Proteas and finished with figures of 2/27 runs of three overs.
Ayabonga Khaka (1/19) and Nonkululeko Mlaba (1/18) kept the run rate slow with their spells and held the hosts to 49/5 inside eight overs, and putting immense pressure on their tail end.
Janillea Glasgow was the only West Indian to respond aggressively toward the Proteas bowlers with her impressive half century knock of 53 not out.
But Glasgow found no support from the other end to help stabilize their innings.
By the end of 20 overs, the hosts could only manage to put up 133 runs on the board, giving the Proteas the comfortable 50-run victory in the first match of the series.
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