Sophie Devine chose to bat at the same ground New Zealand beat India on earlier in the tournament, in Mignon du Preez’s 150th ODI for South Africa. New Zealand have two wins from four in the competition so far but Devine steered clear of calling the match a must-win. South Africa are undefeated after three matches in the tournament and in second place on the points table.
Despite their successful run so far, South Africa are yet to score more than 240 in the tournament, but consider their batting to be improving as the competition progresses. “In every match, we’ve scored 10 runs more,” captain Sune Luus said. All eyes will be on du Preez, who enters her milestone match on a lean run. She has not crossed 20 in seven ODIs this year and has scored just 26 runs at the World Cup so far, and South Africa will look to her experience in the chase.
Before they get there, their unchanged XI will field on what looks a good deck at Seddon Park. Shabnim Ismail was passed fit after suffering a toe injury in Monday’s match against England and South Africa stuck to their four-seam, two-spin attack. New Zealand made one change to the team that lost to Australia and brought in Brooke Halliday for Hayley Jensen, with a view to lengthening their line-up slightly.
Expect runs aplenty on a surface that has delivered so far. Though Bangladesh defended 234 against Pakistan in the most recent match played at this ground, scores have typically been high here. Australia and India both put on first innings scores over 300.
South Africa beat New Zealand in an ODI series to qualify for the World Cup and have won the last three meetings between these two sides but New Zealand have the overall advantage. They have won 11 of the 16 completed matches the teams have played against each other, dating back to February 1999.
New Zealand 1 Suzie Bates, 2 Sophie Devine (capt), 3 Amelia Kerr, 4 Amy Satthertwaite, 5 Maddy Green, 6 Frances Mackay, 7 Katey Martin (wk), 8 Brooke Halliday, 9 Hannah Rowe, 10 Lea Tahuhu, 11 Jess Kerr
South Africa 1 Laura Wolvaardt, 2 Lizelle Lee, 3 Tazmin Brits, 4 Sune Luus (capt), 5 Mignon du Preez, 6 Marizanne Kapp, 7 Chloe Tryon, 8 Trisha Chetty (wk), 9 Shabnim Ismail, 10 Masabata Klaas, 11 Ayabonga Khaka