SA square series after last-over finish

South Africa Women 180 for 6 (van Niekerk 45*, Alam 3-35) beat Bangladesh Women 179 for 7 (Haque 55, Mondal 52) by four wickets
Scorecard

An unbeaten half-century stand for the seventh wicket helped South Africa Women beat Bangladesh Women by four wickets in Mirpur and square the three match series 1-1. Bangladesh would have fancied their chances in the match when they reduced South Africa to 130 for 6 chasing 180, but Dane van Niekerk, who scored 45 off 64 balls, and Shabnim Ismail thwarted the spin challenge and went past the target with four balls to spare.

Bangladesh had chosen to bat first and put up an improved batting display, after both teams had struggled the previous day, to score 179. The highlight of the innings was a 70-run fourth-wicket stand between Lata Mondal and Farzana Haque, both batmen scoring half-centuries. But Legspinner van Niekerk, 2 for 30, and offspinner Sunette Loubser, 2 for 26, picked up regular wickets to keep Bangladesh under 200.

South Africa were in trouble early in their reply as they lost four wickets with only 33-runs on board, but unlike falling to spin as in the previous game, the visitors lost three of those wickets to medium-pacer Jahanara Alam. A 64-run stand between Alison Hodgkinson (33) and Marizanne Kapp (39) stabilised the chase before the lower-order saw them through.

The third and the final match of the series will be played on September 9 in Mirpur.