Key events
12th over: South Africa 37-1 (Woolvaardt 18, Dercksen 6) Dercksen may not be used to the pace that Filer is delivering the other end but she has impressive poise. She drives Bell through the covers for four with aplomb.
11th over: South Africa 33-1 (Woolvaardt 18, Dercksen 2) Filer is finding her mojo – and delivers some spicy stuff to Dercksen. A searing bouncer to start – Derkcksen snaps back her neck to avoid being hit, her long blond hair following behind. She smiles. Another fierce bouncer follows, which Dercksen doesn’t play as well, loses sight of it, and is hit on the helmet as it flies down to the rope for four byes. Intriguing!
10th over: South Africa 28-1 (Woolvaardt 16, Dercksen 0) Bell springs in, a hop at the start of her run-up. Another smart, neat over.
9th over: South Africa 25-1 (Woolvaardt 16, Dercksen 0) Filer starts the over with a full toss which Woolvaardt drives for four, finishes with a snorting bouncer which heads for Woolvaardt’s throat and leaves her flat on her back.
8th over: South Africa 21-1 (Woolvaardt 12, Dercksen 0 ) Bosch looked all at sea for the three balls she faced, wildly wafting at the first, and nibbling obligingly to the third. An absolute beauty from Bell to finish the over, a HUGE inswinger which Dercksen left but which zig-zagged in and missed her off stump by a Christmas tree’s needle.
WICKET! Bosch c Jones b Bell 6 (South Africa 21-1)
Bosch pushes at a ball that she could have left a hundred times out of a hundred and nibbles behind.
Morning session
7th over: South Africa 21-0 (Woolvaardt 12, Bosch 6) Three slips and a gully stand and wait as Lauren Filer runs in with the first ball of the day, an inswinger on the money. From there Filer is a little wayward, drifting legside. Woolvaardt nudges one of them down to the rope.
The South Africans have a last gulp of water, and Heather Knight leads out her troops.
They’re prodding the pitch in Bloem – yesterday there was a strong wind down the ground, today it has dropped to just a little breeze. The surface still looks wonderful for bat and ball, but yesterday’s wind took most of the moisture out of the surface and there are now a few cracks.
While we wait for this Test to begin, you might (or might not) want to catch up on England’s exploits in Hamilton – a hundred for Williamson, a hamstring blow for Stokes, and another Matt-Henry snaffling for Crawley.
The pictures are now beaming in from Blomfontein where the light is bright and the sun is hot. Kaya Zondo and Nono Pongolo are singing Bouchier’s praises – her 126 was the third highest score on Test debut behind Australia’s Mel Jones and Michelle Goszko.
A lovely picture of Maia Bouchier and her dad Anthony, who was an investor in Wisden.com in the early days of the internet back in the early noughties.
Maia Bouchier’s father, Anthony, was an early investor in Wisden Online, which bought Cricinfo in 2003.
It was a proud moment for the pair today, as Maia scored a century on Test debut 🙌 pic.twitter.com/8DnbcsRs84
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) December 15, 2024
This is worth a listen from Raf and Syd on both England women’s contracts and the ECB’s new salary announcement on the Hundred where there are huge increases in pay for the top tier men, not so much for anyone else.
This was Raf’s take on day one:
Preamble
Good morning! As schoolchildren porridge-up on the last Monday before Christmas, the Manchester sky still a long way from dawn, England and South Africa prepare for day two of the one-off Test in sunny Bloemfontein.
England’s women had the best of yesterday, racking up 395 at quite the lick, with a debut Test hundred for the impressive Maia Bouchier and the quickest Test century in women’s history for Nat Sciver Brunt.
South Africa fought back in the late afternoon, snipping this way and that through the late middle order and tail, and England were unable to make a breakthrough in the six overs after Heather Knight’s declaration.
Action starts at 8am, in this first women’s Test in South Africa since 2002. Do join me, coffee in hand.