A century opening partnership between Dane van Niekerk and Lizelle Lee came to nought when rain forced the abandonment of the fourth ODI against India.
The Proteas were on 130-3, with just over five overs to go, when the rain came down in the double-header at Centurion. It leaves them needing to win the last match, at Newlands on Saturday, to tie the series 2-2.
It was a pity for the match was shaping into a thriller, with India pushing back against an excellent opening stand of 103 off 75 balls.
Van Niekerk was in belligerent mood, racing to her sixth ODI fifty off 47 balls, with four fours and two sixes. She even outpaced Lee, who contributed 41 to the stand. But she had faced just 29 balls, with two fours and three sixes.
By the time Van Niekerk miscued to mid-off, immediately after taking 10 runs off the first two balls of the over from off-spinner Deepti Sharma, the openers had put on the highest partnership in five meetings with India.
Lee was getting into her stride just as the rain came. She added another two sixes to her total, moving on to 58. The big-hitting opener was second on the list of six-hitters in the Women’s Big Bash League, chalking up 17 in 12 matches before she had to come home early for this international series.
Nevertheless, the batting began to crumble with the loss of Chloe Tryon (2) and Sune Luus (5), but Mignon du Preez, who had a strike rate of 112 in the WBBL, was there on two, with 5.3 overs to go. The finale could have been full of fireworks. But instead it was a damp squib.
Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
