Twitter Reactions: South Africa women register first ever win over Australia to level series

The South African women’s team recorded their maiden victory over Australia in any format as they won the second T20I of the three-match series at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on January 28.

Alyssa Healy won the toss and opted to bat first. She played a handy knock of 29 off 24 balls but the other batters in the top order struggled to adjust to the tricky Canberra surface. A late push from Grace Harris, who remained unbeaten on 31 off 18 balls, helped Australia get to 142/6 in their 20 overs.

South Africa would have been quietly confident of their chances, however, their dismal track record against the Aussies made the 143-run target look a little daunting. The Proteas had never beaten Australia in any format before this game. The two teams played 15 ODIs and seven T20Is before this encounter. Apart from one tied ODI, the Aussies emerged victorious on every occasion.

However, Laura Wolvaardt led from the front and helped the tourists create history. She remained unbeaten on 58 off 53 after fellow opener Tazmin Brits hit a brisk 41 off 28 to get her team off to a great start. They added 75 runs for the first wicket inside the first 10 overs to lay the foundation for an epic win. South Africa chased the target down in 19 overs, with six wickets to spare.

“It’s very special, obviously having never beaten them before in any format or game is something we were looking to change and to do it in their own backyard is incredibly special. Especially just with a lot of senior players retiring in the past few years…to have this new dynamic young team just obviously beating the World Champions is something very special and something that hopefully can change our mindset. Hopefully the voodoo is a bit broken now and we can win them on a more regular basis,” an elated Wolvaardt said after the memorable victory.

Four out of Australia’s last five losses have come when they have batted first. Harris felt that her side might need to look into this statistic.

“Chasing, you’ve got the number on the board that you need, and so as a batting group, you can think about how you’re getting the extra boundary ball in the over. Maybe there might be a little tweak here or there, or just a learning on conditions earlier or how we’re going to play a bit more aggressive and get a few more runs on the board. But not too much needs to change I don’t think,” Harris said.

With this win, South Africa restored parity in the three-match series. The final T20I is going to be played at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Tuesday, January 30.

Here’s a look at how ‘X’ users reacted to South Africa’s historic win: