BENGALURU: Skipper Laura Wolvaardt made an assured fifty but South Africa suffered a batting meltdown after a strong start to finish with an underwhelming 215 for eight against India in the third and final women’s ODI here on Sunday.
Wolvaardt (61, 57b, 7×4) and Tazmin Brits (38, 66b, 2×4, 1×6) stitched 102 runs off 119 balls for the opening wicket after batting by choice, and SA looked set for a big total that could have given them a chance to register a consolation win.
India have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Both Wolvaardt and Brits were comfortable against Indian bowlers even though there was a hint of varied bounce, which was evident when pacer Pooja Vastrakar beat the defence of Sune Luus (13) with a delivery that stayed close to her ankle.
However, the SA openers found a way to tackle that, as they hardly opted for aerial shots and collected their runs more pragmatically with singles, twos and the occasional power shots.
Brits’ six off left-arm spinner Radha Yadav over mid-wicket following a little shimmy down the track was the lone moment of explosion.
At the other end, Wolvaardt maintained a strike-rate over 100 without ever really taking undue risks.
The tourists crossed the 100-run mark in the 18th over but their fortunes turned around when pacer Arundhati Reddy pulled off an excellent return catch to dismiss a set Wolvaardt.
Arundhati later produced an even better caught and bowled effort to jettison Anneke Bosch as India twisted the knife through SA’s batting unit under Arundhati (2/36) and off-spinner Deepti Sharma (2/27), who was hard to score off.
However, South Africa also had their own indiscretions to blame for the downfall.
Brits and Nondumise Shangase (16) charged out for non-existing singles to get run out just when they were looking to upshift the gears.
From a lofty 102 for no loss in 19.5 overs, South Africa lost the next eight wickets for 113 runs as India placed themselves firmly on course for a 3-0 series clean sweep.