South Africa boosted its chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup with a critical win over hosts India on Thursday.
The Proteas will next face relative minnows Bangladesh, knowing that a convincing win over the South Asian nation would vastly improve their Net Run Rate (NRR) and put them in a great position entering the second half of Round Robin play.
Here is a look at the match ahead.
South Africa VS Bangladesh Venue: ACA-VDC Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam
South Africa VS Bangladesh Date: Monday, October 13
South Africa VS Bangladesh Odds:
History
South Africa’s sensational ability to bounce back with wins over New Zealand and India after a humiliating opening match defeat by England has been remarkable. A 10-wicket thrashing threatened to derail their ODI World Cup campaign before it had even started, but the Proteas’ batting power has shone through in the two wins since.
South Africa has even proven that it can win in different ways. The Proteas battered New Zealand to bring back some morale immediately, then they eked out the win over India in a contest that went down to the final dozen balls.
South Africa won by three wickets over the hosts, but that doesn’t tell the story of the match. The Proteas put India into bat, with the Indian tail-enders again proving their worth as an 88-run partnership for the eighth wicket dragged India to 251 for their innings.
When Tazmin Brits fell for a duck, there seemed little chance of South Africa getting close to the score they needed to win. Opener Laura Wolvaadt steadied the ship with her 70, but it was Nadine de Klerk, coming in at No. 8, that did the damage. She finished unbeaten on 84 from just 54 balls, slogging South Africa to a narrow win with just seven balls to spare.
South Africa
This game starts a run for South Africa, which plays the bottom three teams on the log. They will look for big wins over Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka to up that NRR, which could be important should they finish level on points with other countries competing for playoff spots.
The Proteas will be looking for performance when all the batters play well in the same game. Brits, de Klerk, and Wolvaart have all been good to great, and if this lineup fires early, Bangladesh could be in real trouble.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh has been tricky to figure out. They beat Pakistan in an impressive win and were much closer to England than South Africa, but they were poor against New Zealand last time out.
Bangladesh’s batting has been an issue. Their bowlers have been excellent, and their 23.26 team average is the second best in the tournament behind England. However, they haven’t shown the firepower I would expect them to need to challenge South Africa tomorrow.
Best Bets
It is worth noting that Visakhapatnam has been the best batting track at the tournament so far. The weather is expected to be wet and humid, which might affect the toss call.
Chloe Tryon is an interesting shout at 23/2 to be Player of the Match as she did a little bit of everything in the win over India. My money would be on Brits, who will have a massive point to prove and is 11/2 to be best on ground.
