Anneke Bosch had nothing to lose. Her arduous 26-ball 18 against England in Sharjah had already led to questions over her latest batting promotion to no. 3, her tournament-best in three attempts was a run-a-ball 25 against Bangladesh, and a reassessment was perhaps due once South Africa returned home from the T20 World Cup 2024, whenever that was.
But once when she took that fear of failure out the equation, Bosch ended up giving herself the most fulfilling redemption arc and South Africa a free pass to the finals at the expense of the mighty Australians.
“Obviously, it hasn’t been the best tournament for me so far [but] the mindset today was a bit different than normally. If you come off a few bad games, you kind of know that it can’t get any worse,” Bosch said after collecting the Player of the Match for her 48-ball 74* that sent the defending champions packing in Dubai.
Skipper Laura Wolvaardt had said batting coach Baakier Abrahams had been racking his brains in his hotel room before coming up with the batting order, meaning the crucial no. 3 role had fallen to Bosch after careful consideration. First and foremost, who she was replacing at one-drop was Marizanne Kapp – South Africa’s pace spearhead who’s just in her second series since comeback from a back injury. With the return of Kapp the bowler, it became prudent to alleviate her workload elsewhere without compromising on the firepower in batting. That’s when Bosch’s intent in trainings inspired the confidence of a swap, secondly. Lastly, there was the sufficient cushioning provided invariably by the in-form opening combination.
No opening pair has scored more runs since the start of 2023 than Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits. On Thursday, however, Annabel Sutherland had ensured it wasn’t the case. When Brits fell for a run-a-ball 15 in a watchful start to South Africa’s chase of 135, in a replay of the 2023 World Cup finale, Australia assumed the onus would befall the unbeaten skipper. Ominously then, the Bosch jolt came out of the blue.
Bosch had previously averaged 11.75 against Australia in four innings against the reigning champions, including the painful run-out second ball in Cape Town that proved the final nail in South Africa’s coffin then. In this data-driven world, that’s not even enough footage to analyse in bowlers’ meetings. On Thursday, she was intent on providing them a front-row seat to the show.
“The last couple of series I was pretty much set on three and that’s my preferred position as well. I enjoy top-order or top-three role, and making no. three my own. My responsibility at 3 was something [that] really hasn’t been going that way or hasn’t been going as planned the last couple of games.
“Our powerplay, I don’t think, started as well as it normally does. [But] coming off a couple of bad games you really realize that you don’t have anything more to lose. Obviously you do want to do well for the team but yeah I think maybe that’s what helped me and maybe that’s what made me kind of more relaxed and just playing more freely, without too much pressure on myself.”
Right on cue, McGrath had her nemesis, left-arm spin, pressed into service. Bosch shuffled across and got a top-edge on her sweep that a running-back Ellyse Perry couldn’t pouch. Despite that, there was intent to give the bowlers the charge next ball. A similar shuffle across for a much-more confident reverse sweep this time fetched Bosch her first boundary and she lofted the next one straight down the ground to pick another. Wolvaardt’s six downtown was arguably the shot of the match, but even at her fluent best, the captain remained in the shadows of Bosch who took down Australia’s vaunted attack like a woman possessed.
In all Bosch scored 16 off the left-arm spin of Sophie Molineux, forcing her out of the attack after just three overs. As many as 44 runs off her 74 on the night came against the Australian spin-troika. In a wagon-wheel painted 360-degree, sweeps were her most productive shot with three boundaries coming off it as she managed to keep the threat of slower-bowlers at bay.
“I’ve been kind of working on it [countering left-arm spin] and I’ve been aware that it’s something I’ve been struggling with over the last couple of months. The practice sessions and the talks leading up to this game was just using smart options and better options. On the other wicket that’s quite slow and the outfield that’s quite slow, the options that we use at home or on better wickets aren’t necessarily going to work here. Yeah, I think unfortunately it took me a while to realize that and to go to other options. I think this sweep was pretty effective today and helped me a lot. So yeah, I think it was, like I said earlier, just another mindset thing and going to smart options and having better plans against different bowlers”
