New Zealand 321 for 5 (Devine 145, Bates 73) beat South Africa 170 (Ruck 4-31, Nielsen 3-34) by 151 runs
Scorecard
A century from middle-order batsman Sophie Devine and a half-century from captain Suzie Bates was backed up by a combined bowling effort as New Zealand defeated South Africa by 151 runs in Cuttack. The strong total of 321 was built round the third-wicket stand of 128 between Bates and Devine, and a 101-run stand off 43 deliveries for the fifth wicket between Devine and Nicola Browne. South Africa, in reply, lost wickets regularly, and no one scored more than 37 as they capitulated for 170.
South Africa's openers were dismissed by the sixth over, and they couldn't recover. Seamer Morna Nielsen and Lea Tahuhu destroyed the top order, and South Africa slumped to 82 for 7 in the 21st over. Susan Benade and Shabnim Ismail tried to rescue South Africa, adding 72 runs in quick time, but left-arm seamer Sian Ruck, who finished with four wickets, mopped up the tail.
New Zealand's bowlers had the cushion provided by commanding batting from their batsmen. Although openers Lucy Doolan and Lucy Satterthwaite were dismissed quickly, the middle order responded soundly. Devine, who struck 13 fours and six sixes in her knock of 145, off 131 balls, saw her side through to the end of the innings.
"It feels great to have scored my first ODI century for New Zealand. There were a few plays and misses but I'm delighted to have helped us to our first win of the tournament," Devine said after the game. "You never quite feel like you're comfortable at the crease, you had to graft to stay there and after Suzie [Bates] departed it was good to have Sara [McGlashan] and Nicola Browne there to help the total go even higher.
"We really concentrated on bowling nice tight lines and we had them [South Africa] instantly under pressure which I think helped to change their batting mindset. A couple of their players looked in good form, including their captain [Mignon] du Preez but we were consistent and patient and it worked in our favour."
Du Preez said her side had learned hard lessons. "We didn't take the chances that we created up front when we were fielding. We missed out on removing Sophie Devine for 11 and she made us pay a heavy price for that. Our lines and length were wrong and the fielding was not at our best. Losing wickets in clusters also prevented us from forming partnerships and all those things combined were our downfall."
Australia 175 (Haynes 39, Yousuf 3-30) beat Pakistan 84 (Maroof 43, Coyte 3-20, Ferling 2-10) by 91 runs
Scorecard
A strong bowling performance, led by seamer Sarah Coyte, helped Australia beat Pakistan by 91 runs in a Group B match in Cuttack.
Set a target of 176, Pakistan's batting order crumbled as only two batsmen had scores in double figures. Bismah Maroof was the only batsman to resist the Australian bowlers, scoring 43 of her team's 84 runs. Coyte took three wickets, and was ably supported by medium pacers Ellyse Perry, Holly Ferling and offspinner Lisa Sthalekar, who all took two wickets apiece.
Having chosen to bat, Australia did not get off to the best start, losing wickets regularly. A third-wicket partnership of 44 runs between opener Rachael Haynes and Alex Blackwell stabilised the innings a little before Blackwell was dismissed by Asmavia Iqbal. Coyte then added 45 important runs for the seventh-wicket with Sthalekar (32) and remained unbeaten on 35.
