England and Australia impress on day one of warm-ups

England beat South Africa in a festival of runs on an entertaining first day of warm-up matches for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.

In Stellenbosch the two teams combined to rack up 475 runs as England edged to a 17-run success.

Elsewhere, Sri Lanka hung on for a two-run win over Ireland, while defending champions Australia got the better of India by 43 runs thanks to a fine bowling display.

New Zealand kicked off with a 32-run win over the West Indies, and Pakistan were the only successful chasers in a six-wicket success against Bangladesh.

Top order shines for England

After being put in, England made a blistering start to their innings against South Africa, with Sophia Dunkley smashing 59 off just 19 deliveries including nine fours and three sixes.

She fell in the fifth over, with 68 on the board, but opening partner Danni Wyatt (24) and then Alice Capsey (61) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (51) put England in a strong position at 207 for four with four overs remaining.

They kept up the pace as the wickets fell, with useful late runs from Maia Bouchier (19 not out from seven balls) to reach 246 for seven.

That left South Africa a mammoth target to chase, with early wickets for Charlie Dean and Sarah Glenn leaving them with a lot to do when they found themselves 51 for three.

Chloe Tryon then blasted 65 off just 23 balls including seven sixes to get the chase back on track, but her dismissal was the first of three for just two runs that stalled the chase once again.

Nadine de Klerk kept battling, with a 27-ball 50, but South Africa left themselves too much to do.

England beat South Africa at Coetzenburg Oval, Stellenbosch by 17 runs

England 246/7 in 20 overs (Alice Capsey 61, Sophia Dunkley 59; Nadine de Klerk 3/45, Shabnim Ismail 2/38)

South Africa 229/9 in 20 overs (Chloe Tryon 65, Nadine de Klerk 50 not out; Sarah Glenn 3/30, Lauren Bell 3/31)

Australia beat India at Newlands, Cape Town by 43 runs

Australia 129/8 in 20 overs (Georgia Wareham 32 not out, Beth Mooney 28; Shikha Pandey 2/9, Pooja Vastrakar 2/16)

India 86 all out in 15 overs (Deepti Sharma 19 not out, Harleen Deol 12; Darcie Brown 4/17, Ash Gardner 2/16)