Women's World Cup 2017

A 100-run opening partnership between Laura Wolvaardt and Lizelle Lee provided the platform for a winning start to South Africa's World Cup campaign; but a fighting performance in the field from Pakistan made them sweat for it until the penultimate over, with Shabnim Ismail hitting 3 boundaries in the 49th to seal the win for the Women Proteas. Chasing 206, 18-year-old Laura Wolvaardt, who already has two international centuries to her name, signalled her intent by hitting back-to-back cover drives for 4. Lizelle Lee soon joined the party as the pair set off at well over the required rate of a little above 4 an over. Pakistan pulled things back a little in the post-powerplay overs, but South Africa could still hardly have been better-placed at the half-way point than the 112-0 at which they found themselves, though both batsmen had their scares - Lee dropped on a tough caught & bowled chance by Nashra Sandhu on 28; and Wolvaardt surviving a big LBW shout in her 20s. The d