Edwards leads England to big win

Charlotte Edwards made a well paced century and shared a 159-run partnership with Sarah Taylor to set-up England Women's thumping 96-run victory over South Africa Women at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom.

South Africa chose to bowl but England's top order quickly made them regret that decision as Edwards and Danni Wyatt added 88 for the first wicket before Taylor and Edwards combined to flay the South Africa's bowlers in their mammoth stand. The pair scored at just under eight runs an over, with Taylor the more aggressive of the two. She was particularly harsh on Thomson, smacking her for consecutive fours early in her innings before looting four boundaries in one over when Thomson was brought back on towards the latter stages. She fell an over later for 77, trying to push the tempo even higher.

Edwards was only restrained in comparison to Taylor, but showed no less intent. Shabnim Ismail was pulled and driven through the onside for boundaries to take her into the 90s and she brought up her hundred with another four, this time off Marizanne Kapp. She then celebrated by dishing out similar treatment to Sunette Loubser before eventually holing out for 138 from 139 balls. At that point England were 263 for 3 in the 43rd over and a couple of cameos from the middle order took them to 315.

South Africa started steadily in the chase but quickly fell behind the asking rate as the England bowlers kept things tight. Their only chance was for Dane van Niekerk and Mignon du Preez to press on and make big scores after the openers fell but van Niekerk's dismissal with the score on 138 in the 29th effectively ended their chase. Wickets fell regularly after that and England sealed the win when Ismail holed out off Laura Marsh to go 2-0 up and claim the series.

"It was a good all round team performance today. I'm really pleased how we've come back with our bowling and our fielding performance," Edwards said. "It's always nice to clinch a series and to contribute to that is fantastic. I was really pleased with how I played today, I wanted to get a big score out here. "Sarah and I have batted a lot together - she's world class."