South Africa shocked Australia by beating them in a women’s ODI for the first time in Sydney.
It was a relatively comfortable win for South Africa too as they won by 84 runs on the DLS Method after several dropped catches and a batting collapse for Australia proving costly.
Prior to Wednesday, the hosts hadn’t been beaten at the North Sydney Oval since 2009 and the two teams will face off in the deciding ODI at the same venue on Saturday.
Australia had won the first ODI by eight wickets but were unable to chase down South Africa’s target of 224, which was revised to 234 from 45 overs due to rain delays.
A super all-round display from Marizanne Kapp (75) was helped by poor fielding from Australia when the away side were batting.
Kapp, who was forced to retire from the first ODI due to an injury, removed openers Alyssa Healy and Phoebe Litchfield then crucially bowled Beth Mooney out to move onto 3-7 from her first four overs.
Ashleigh Gardner and Kim Garth combined for the highest ninth-wicket partnership in women’s ODIs of 77 to give the home side a sniff, but it was too little too late as they fell well short to leave Australia on 149 runs.