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, 7x4) and Tazmin Brits (38, 66b, 2x4, 1x6) 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.