Aussies celebrate Schutt milestone with dominant win

Megan Schutt has celebrated her 200th international game with an inspired opening spell that set the tone as Australia romped to an eight-wicket win over South Africa in the opening one-dayer.

Schutt, who became the sixth Australian woman to the 200 mark, took 1-1 in five consecutive overs at Adelaide Oval to help bowl South Africa for 105, their lowest ODI total against the Aussies.

She set the tone for an outstanding display from the hosts in the field, before Beth Mooney led the way with an unbeaten 52 from 34 balls to ice a dominant win with a whopping 31 overs to spare.

Australia now hold a 6-2 lead in the multi-format series, with two ODIs and a one-off Test remaining.

In even worse news for the tourists, Marizanne Kapp was forced to retire hurt after top-scoring with 50.

The star allrounder was struck on her left elbow by a throw as she completed a second run to reach the milestone, and was subsequently sent for scans and ruled out of the remainder of the match.

Schutt’s remarkable opening five-over spell saw her take the key wicket of Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt and leak one solitary run as the 200-gamer put an immense amount of pressure on the tourists.

The Proteas skipper, who is a teammate of Schutt at the Adelaide Strikers, sliced a short and wide delivery straight to Georgia Wareham at point in the third over of the match.

At the other end, Kim Garth (2-12) had Anneke Bosch brilliantly caught by a leaping Beth Mooney at slip for a six-ball duck, and the introduction of Ellyse Perry (1-8) saw Tazmin Brits bowled for one from 18 balls faced.

With South Africa crawling to 3-9 after nine overs, Kapp finally hit the first boundary of their innings in the 10th over.

Australia continued to make inroads, with Annabel Sutherland (1-22) bowling Sune Luus on six and Ashleigh Gardner (1-12) getting Chloe Tryon for 10 to leave the Proteas 5-56 in the 19th over.

Kapp was the only Protea who looked remotely comfortable in the middle, batting superbly and finding the boundary eight times before reaching a 58-ball half-century in the 27th over.

But there was no celebration for the milestone, instead disaster struck as Kapp came through for the second run, with a sharp throw in from Georgia Wareham missing the stumps and instead bouncing up into the South African’s elbow.

Kapp immediately went down in pain and after being assessed by medical staff, was forced to retire hurt and was subsequently ruled out of the remainder of the match.

The Proteas will desperately hope Kapp can feature in the remainder of the tour, with the 34-year-old a crucial force with both ball and bat.

After Kapp’s departure the remaining wickets fell quickly as South Africa lost 4-11 to be bowled out in 31.3 overs, with Alana King (3-19) accounting for Sinalo Jafta (0), Nadine de Klerk (18) and Ayabonga Khaka (3).

It was not entirely smooth sailing for Australia in the chase as openers Phoebe Litchfield (12) and Healy (19) were out caught behind, but Mooney joined Ellyse Perry (16no) in a 64-run stand to seal a straightforward victory in 19 overs.

Both teams now travel to Sydney ahead of the second one-dayer at North Sydney Oval on February 7.

Women's CommBank T20I Series v South Africa

First T20: Australia won by eight wickets

Second T20: South Africa won by six wickets

January 30: Australia won by five wickets

Women's CommBank ODI Series v South Africa

February 3: Australia won by eight wickets

February 7: Second ODI, North Sydney Oval, 2.40pm

February 10: Third ODI, North Sydney Oval, 2.40pm

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Heather Graham, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris*, Jess Jonassen, Alana King**, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham *T20s only | **ODIs only

South Africa squad (T20Is & ODIs): Laura Wolvaardt (c), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Mieke de Ridder (wk), Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Suné Luus, Eliz-Mari Marx, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Chloe Tryon, Delmi Tucker

Women's CommBank Test Match v South Africa

February 15-18: Only Test, WACA Ground, Perth 11.00am