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South Africa smashed England by 125 runs to qualify for their maiden ODI World Cup final

Valkerie Baynes29-Oct-20258:30

Fire and ice take South Africa through to the final

South Africa 319 for 7 (Wolvaardt 169, Ecclestone 4-44) beat England 194 (Sciver-Brunt 64, Capsey 50, Kapp 5-20) by 125 runsLaura Wolvaardt’s batting masterclass and Marizanne Kapp’s five-for propelled South Africa into their maiden World Cup final, off the back of a 125-run victory over England.Wolvaardt’s breathtaking 169 in the first semi-final in Guwahati carried her side to 319 for 7 from their 50 overs, the second-highest score in World Cup knockout matches.Asked to stage the second-highest successful chase in women’s ODIs – behind Australia’s 331 to beat India earlier in this tournament – England fell short in the face of the brilliant bowling of Kapp, who took 5 for 20. Those wickets included two in the first over of the reply, as England lurched to 1 for 3, and the prize wicket of Nat Sciver-Brunt who had built a century stand with Alice Capsey. Later in the innings, Kapp took two more wickets in as many balls to put South Africa on the brink of victory.South Africa face the winner of the second semi-final between Australia and India for the title on Sunday, which will be their third consecutive World Cup final, after they finished runners-up at the T20 events in 2023 and 2024.Wolvaardt was a class above in the South Africa batting line-up. Her innings was full of trademark elegant drives early on, followed by a brutal leg-side assault as she hit the accelerator in the closing stages. She was supported by Tazmin Brits, who scored 45, but later went off during England’s innings with what appeared to be a wrist injury after landing awkwardly in the field, followed by Kapp’s rapid 42 off just 33 balls. Wolvaardt shared a seventh-wicket stand worth 89 with Chloe Tryon, who finished unbeaten on 33 herself.Sophie Ecclestone overcame a shoulder injury suffered in the previous match against New Zealand on Sunday to finish with 4 for 44 but, apart from her bowling figures, and fifties for Sciver-Brunt and Capsey, there was little to celebrate for England. Only two others – Danni Wyatt-Hodge and tailender Linsey Smith – reached double figures.As if determined to model South Africa’s bowling performance on Wolvaardt’s batting masterclass, Kapp removed Amy Jones with a ball of the highest quality in the first over. A fuller delivery outside off stump jagged back in between bat and pad and clattered into off stump. Heather Knight was more complicit in her dismissal three balls later when, with leaden feet, she prodded at one that shaped away from outside off and edged onto her stumps. The dismissal gave Kapp figures of 2 for 0 from her first five balls.Ayabonga Khaka made it three England ducks in a row just two balls into the second over, when she drew a faint edge off Tammy Beaumont with one that straightened off the pitch for caught behind.South Africa let England off the hook somewhat, as Sciver-Brunt and Capsey took them from such a poor start to 108 for 4, when Capsey fell moments after reaching her maiden ODI half-century. Capsey had been dropped on 28 by substitute fielder Nondumiso Shangase at long on off the bowling of Sune Luus as South Africa struggled to make further inroads with Kapp off the field. Sciver-Brunt, meanwhile, narrowly avoided being run out as she retreated to the bowler’s end.Marizanne Kapp struck twice in the first over of the chase•ICC via Getty Images

No sooner had Capsey reached fifty, that she picked out Nadine de Klerk at mid-off with Luus the bowler once more. Either side of her dismissal, Sciver-Brunt reached her own half-century, powering Luus over long-off for six, while Brits put down a difficult chance leaping to her right at midwicket. She fell heavily, forcing her off the field in pain and clutching her arm.Kapp struck in the second over of her return spell to remove Sciver-Brunt, caught behind after she was enticed to drive at a length ball, which wobbled away ever so slightly off the seam and brushed the outside edge. In her next over, Kapp had Sophia Dunkley and Charlie Dean caught behind off successive deliveries. The energy with which she roared to celebrate her last wicket matched that of her first.Wyatt-Hodge, playing just her second match of the tournament after being brought in for Emma Lamb to bolster a struggling middle-order, faced just seven deliveries for 2 not out against New Zealand. With more time in the middle here, she managed 34 off 31. When she and Smith fell to Nadine de Klerk, however, it was all over for England.South Africa’s resounding victory was a result of their ability to get out of trouble. They fell from 116 without loss to 119 for 3, as Ecclestone took a sledgehammer to the excellent structure laid down by Wolvaardt and Brits, with two wickets in the space of four balls.Brits could have been out for 1 off what would have been the sharpest of return catches by Lauren Bell. She had attempted a reverse-sweep off Ecclestone’s fellow left-arm spinner, Linsey Smith, before ending up in an awkward heap as the ball struck her front pad well outside off stump. When Brits tried it again, it was her undoing, as Ecclestone speared one in full on middle and leg and drew a bottom edge onto the stumps.Anneke Bosch, brought into the starting XI to boost the batting which had failed so miserably against England last time these sides met, lost her off stump as she charged at Ecclestone, yorked herself, and departed for a three-ball duck.Bell put down another tough chance leaping to her left at short fine leg off Kapp, on 36 at the time. But Kapp added just a handful more runs before Ecclestone returned with immediate impact, with Kapp skying a fuller ball outside off stump high over mid-on where Dean ran back and settled underneath it.Another cluster of South Africa wickets fell when Annerie Dercksen, apparently having failed to learn from Brits’ downfall, tried to reverse-sweep Ecclestone. She hit the ball into the pitch outside off, then again through her swing. The second impact ricocheted into the stumps.Having lumped Dean for a massive 82 metre six over wide long-on, Wolvaardt bided her time through Ecclestone’s final over. She then helped herself to 13 of the 15 runs to come off the next, by Sciver-Brunt, including another six over long-on, followed by a pulled four through backward square.Sciver-Brunt conceded 14 off her next over, which also included Wolvaardt’s third maximum. This time, the shot was over deep midwicket, and she raised her 150 with a similar effort off Smith, who leaked 20 off the over, all but one of them to Wolvaardt.When Wolvaardt finally holed out to Capsey as she launched Bell down the ground, she walked off to warm congratulations from her opponents, as well as the gratitude of her team and the rapture of the crowd, who knew they had witnessed something special.

Foot fracture may delay first-class debut, but Smeed targets trophies after club’s triple near-miss last year

Valkerie Baynes29-Mar-2025Will Smeed’s plans for a first-class debut – three years after his retirement from red-ball cricket – have taken a minor stumble, but that has done nothing to deter him from targeting a major role in Somerset’s Championship campaign this year.A foot fracture suffered in South Africa, where he played four games for Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 at the start of the year, could rule him out of the first match of the Division One season, home to Worcestershire from Friday.”I got it scanned when I got back and I’m just trying to make sure it heals properly before we up the workloads,” Smeed told ESPNcricinfo during Somerset’s pre-season media day. “I should be back playing in no time. I might miss the first week, but it should be fine.”It feels fine. I managed to play on it in South Africa so it’s a case of it would be fine to play on, but they just want to make sure I don’t do any proper damage though.”Related

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Those workloads are indeed set to increase after it was revealed earlier this month that Smeed had backflipped on his fledgling career move to become a white-ball specialist.Smeed announced in 2022 that he would play only white-ball cricket as franchise opportunities beckoned, a move considered groundbreaking given that he had just turned 21 at the time. But after a hamstring injury ruled him out of last year’s Hundred, he found himself playing for Somerset in the Second XI County Championship and enjoyed it which, along with opening the door to more cricket, made a reversal “a bit of a no-brainer”.An explosive batter, who became the first player to score a century in the Hundred three years ago, Smeed doesn’t want to smother that part of his game too much when he finally makes his first-class debut. So far, he has played 105 T20s and just one List A game.Smeed is set for a first-class debut this summer•Getty Images”I definitely think keeping [aggression] as part of your game, but you probably have to be a bit smarter with how you use it and when you use it and obviously then tightening up my defence and things like that,” Smeed said. “A lot of red-ball cricket is about adapting to the ebbs and flows, figuring out when to put your foot down, when to hold back and soak up a bit of pressure. So there needs to be a big learning experience this year, but I’m really looking forward to it.”From a mindset, I’m just more keen to score runs now. I’m just desperate to spend time in the middle and I think that’s why the games at the end of last summer went okay. I think I just put more value on my wicket. I’m still figuring out my game in white-ball stuff, so that’ll be even more prevalent in the red-ball stuff. There might be a technical tweak here or there, but I think a lot of it’s just going to be the way I approach it and the mindset and the options I take and figuring out what works for me.”Somerset came close to a trophy in all three competitions in 2024, but ended up with none. Their loss to Lancashire in the penultimate round of the Championship ensured Surrey finished top of Division One and then Hampshire won their final-round game to seal second place, leaving Somerset in third.On Blast Finals Day, Somerset beat Surrey in the semi-finals but then lost to Gloucestershire in the final, with Smeed scoring a duck and 8 in those games respectively. Somerset also lost the final of the One-Day Cup to Glamorgan.Smeed was the first batter to make a hundred in the Hundred•ECB/Getty ImagesNow, Smeed says his main aim is to win trophies with Somerset, with their 2023 Blast title “still the highlight of my career”, while scoring plenty of runs, with four-day cricket offering ample opportunity for that.”It means I’m here all summer,” Smeed said. “That was a big thing I made clear to Somerset, that I wanted to commit to the whole summer here and I wasn’t going to flip off somewhere if the opportunity came about. I’m here now and it means I can just get stuck into the English summer and really get my head down and try and win some games for Somerset.”The last couple of years with my contract, I’ve been able to take anything that came my way, whereas now, having just fully committed to the summer with Somerset takes that distraction away I guess – or it’s one more decision that I don’t have to make should something come up.”It’s just going to be I’m here with Somerset and that’s me for the summer. Then in the winter hopefully there’s opportunities to go away again and play some stuff overseas.”And if the Blast doesn’t fully satisfy those white-ball urges, there is always the Hundred window in August, when Smeed will return to Birmingham Phoenix, who are still searching for their first title.Having gone all-or-nothing down one career path, perhaps now Smeed really can have it all.

After yet another international break, the Premier League returns this weekend, and Arsenal can continue their title charge.

Mikel Arteta’s side sit four points clear atop the table and will be desperate to make up for dropping points away to Sunderland last time out.

The Gunners weren’t necessarily poor at the Stadium of Light, but aside from a few players, they certainly weren’t at their best.

With that said, one of the starters who played well was Leandro Trossard, although if reports are to be believed, Arsenal might be set to sign someone who could be an upgrade on him.

Arsenal target Trossard upgrade

If you were to ask Arsenal fans who their best players have been this season, you would likely get a lot of the usual suspects, like Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhães and Jurrien Timber.

Transfer Focus

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However, one player who has at least entered that conversation as of late is Trossard, who, unlike last year, is starting to influence games on a more regular basis.

For example, if he didn’t score that thunderbolt against the Black Cats, there is every chance the Gunners might’ve gone into the international break on the back of a defeat.

However, even though the Belgian has been a key contributor in the last month or so, the club appear keen on signing someone to compete with, or possibly replace him.

At least that is according to a recent report from Spain, which claims Arsenal have maintained their interest in Antoine Semenyo.

The report has revealed that, alongside the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool, the Gunners are vying for the Bournemouth star.

While the competition is far from ideal, the good news is that, according to another story from The Athletic, the Cherries star has a £65m release clause in his new contract, which will be active for part of January.

It could be a complicated transfer to get over the line, but given Semenyo’s immense talent, one worth fighting for, especially as he could be an upgrade on Trossard.

How Semenyo compares to Trossard

As they still produced the best defence in the league last season, Arsenal’s biggest problem, at least domestically, was their diminished goal threat.

Therefore, the first thing to compare between Trossard and Semenyo should be their output, as that is ultimately what a winger is judged on these days.

For his efforts so far this year, the Bournemouth star has scored six goals and provided three assists in 12 appearances, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.33 games, and helps to justify Chris Waddle’s claim that he’s currently “the best winger in the country.”

The Belgian, on the other hand, has racked up four goals and four assists in 14 appearances, which works out to a less impressive tally of a goal involvement every 1.75 games.

Unfortunately for the former Brighton & Hove Albion star, he still comes out as a distant second best when looking at their output last season.

For example, he produced 20 goal involvements in 56 games for a far better team, while the Cherries star produced as many goal involvements in just 42 games.

Okay, what about when you take a look under the hood, which winger has the better underlying numbers?

Expected G+As

0.46

0.36

Non-Penalty G+As

0.73

0.56

Progressive Passes

3.55

3.38

Progressive Carries

3.18

2.82

Shots on Target

1.09

0.56

Shot-Creating Actions

3.28

2.94

Goal-Creating Actions

0.64

0.28

Tackles Won

1.00

0.42

Successful Take-Ons

1.91

0.99

Unsurprisingly, it’s the Ghanaian international who once again emerges victorious, coming out on top in key metrics like expected goals plus assists, progressive passes and carries, successful take-ons, shot and goal-creating actions and more, all per 90.

Finally, there is also the simple fact that, at 25, the Bournemouth star has a lot more to offer compared to the 30-year-old, and would therefore be the smarter long-term option.

Ultimately, Trossard has been far better this season than last, but even so, it’s clear that Semenyo would be an upgrade on him, and therefore, Arsenal should go all out to sign the Cherries star in January.

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