Wolvaardt, Kapp power South Africa to their maiden Women's ODI World Cup finalWolvaardt, Kapp power
Guwahati(PTI): South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt scored a hundred for the ages before the seasoned Marizanne Kapp made the ball talk in good batting conditions to script a 125-run victory over England and enter their maiden Women's ODI Cup final here on Wednesday.
Wolvaardt singlehandedly pushed South Africa to a formidable 319 for seven with an epic 169 off 143 balls, negating the impact of two mini collapses caused by left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone.
Four-time champions England needed to pull off a record chase to reach another summit clash but Kapp, after doing her bit with the bat, broke the opposition back with a five-wicket haul, limiting them to 194 in 42.3 overs. "Still feels a bit unreal. You dream as a kid of scoring a hundred in a World Cup knock-out game," Wolvaardt said at the post-match presentation ceremony after receiving the 'Player of The Match' award.
"This probably has to be right at the top considering the context, a World Cup semi-final. It is right up there," she added.
The Proteas women had played back-to-back T20 World Cup finals but lost on both occasions.
On a surface with plenty of runs, Kapp got the ball to seam both ways. England were up against it from the first over of the chase when Kapp got rid of Amy Jones and the experienced former skipper Heather Knight.
Jones was beaten by a ball that seamed backed in while Knight played a wide ball on to her stumps, leaving Kapp all fired up.
England Nat-Sciver Brunt (64 off 76) and Alice Capsey (50 off 71) tried to resurrect the innings with a 107 run stand when the latter was caught at mid on Sune Luus, it seemed all but over for them.
It was Kapp who delivered the knock out punch by having the dangerous Sciver-Brunt caught behind. At 151 for eight, the game was only heading South Africa's way.
The second semifinal will be played between India and Australia in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
Put in to bat, South Africa set the platform for a 300 plus total with a 116-run stand between Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits (45 off 65). However, Ecclestone (4/44) stuck twice in the 22rd over to put the brakes on South Africa scoring rate.
A 72-run stand between Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp (42 off 33) followed before Ecclestone broke a threatening partnership once gain. At 202 for six, South Africa seemed to be heading for a below par total but Wolvaardt took her sublime game to the next level to fire her team past the 300-run mark.
The first half of her innings was a lot about her regal drives through the off-side before she targeted the midwicket boundary against the England pacers and spinners to ensure South Africa regained the momentum. Her innings comprised 17 fours and three maximums.
Wolvaardt, who has 184 as her highest ODI score, took left-arm spinner Linsey Smith to the cleaners in the 47th over yielding 20 runs..
Batting with a widish stance, Wolvaardt was quick to dispatch balls on the leg-side. She brought up her 150 with a six over mid-wicket and also completed 5000 ODI during the course of her marathon knock.
Chloe Tryon (33 not out off 26) and Nadine de Klerk (11 not out off 6) did the needful towards the end of the innings. The last 10 overs yielded 117 runs for the Proteas women.
Their batting performance was a far cry from their 69 all out against the same opponent in the league stage of the tournament.
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
