South Africa lost to England by 10 wickets in the Women's ODI World Cup 2025.
The Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 campaign for South Africa has already suffered a massive dent as they endured a disastrous 10-wicket defeat against England, with 215 balls to spare. This loss has already put the Proteas under pressure as all their all next games have become must-win clashes, leading to breaking their hopes of semi-final qualification.
The Proteas were undone by left-arm spinner Linsey Smith’s sliders, and from there, they never recovered. In the 70-run chase, Amy Jones produced a quickfire knock, sealing the deal off just 14 overs.
On the expected terms, Australia, England, and the hosts India are likely to dominate the group stages and seal three of the four semi-final spots, leaving out just one berth for the remaining five sides.
South Africa entered the marquee tournament as one of the dark horses, particularly following their amazing series win against Pakistan in the build-up. But their defeat in the campaign opener has left them bottom of the points table with the worst Net Run Rate (NRR) of -3.773.
Meanwhile, New Zealand also faced a heavy defeat to the Australian women despite being in the driver’s seat at one stage. The White Ferns lost to the seven-time champions by 89 runs at Holkar Stadium in Indore. The defeat saw them sitting second last (-1.780) in the points table, with a slightly better NRR compared to South Africa.
With both teams, South Africa and New Zealand, expected to beat lower-ranked teams like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka comfortably, the New Zealand vs South Africa fixture, scheduled on Monday (October 6), becomes a virtual knockout for both sides.
On the other hand, a defeat would mean one of the two sides being unofficially eliminated from the semi-final race, barring a win over one of the tournament heavyweights.
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Though the New Zealand-South Africa clash is expected to be decisive, the loser will still have a technical chance to qualify, but arguably a very difficult one. To remain in the hunt, they not only have to win matches against Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, but also upset either upcoming fixtures against India or Australia while maintaining a better NRR if multiple teams finish level on points.
South Africa, though, would want to forget the game against England as a bad dream and move on quickly, and hope that this one-off defeat does not derail their campaign.
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