Women's T20 World Cup 2023: England beat South Africa in warm-up

England continued their preparations for the Women's T20 World Cup with a 17-run win in a high-scoring warm-up game against hosts South Africa.

England posted 246-7, with Sophia Dunkley (59) crashing a 15-ball half-century, while Alice Capsey made 61 and Nat Sciver-Brunt 51.

Kate Cross, Lauren Bell and Sarah Glenn then took three wickets each as South Africa were restricted to 229-9.

England's first game is against West Indies on Saturday (13:00 GMT).

"It was a great win. We were really aggressive and positive," said Dunkley.

"We wanted to make a really strong effort to be fearless and brave and to take on some of the best bowlers in the world, as we hope to during the World Cup."

Dunkley got England off to a rapid start, with Jon Lewis' side 67-0 after four overs before the right-hander was bowled by Shabnim Ismail.

Capsey, who is returning from a broken collarbone sustained on the tour of West Indies in December, then took over as England raced to 79-1 in the six-over powerplay.

The attacking continued throughout with Capsey taking 28 balls to reach her fifty, and Nat Sciver-Brunt 24 balls, as both peppered the boundaries.

Captain Heather Knight made nine, and wicketkeeper Amy Jones eight, but Maia Bouchier finished the innings off with an unbeaten seven-ball 19.

South Africa started well in reply before spinners Dean and Glenn removed key players Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp and Sune Luus to leave the Proteas 51-3.

Chloe Tryon (65 off 23 balls) and Tamzin Brits (38 off 28) shared 98 for the fourth wicket before they were removed by Dean, who finished with 3-46, and Glenn, who claimed 3-30, respectively in the space of three balls.

Seamer Lauren Bell returned to claim three late wickets, including two in the final over, to finish with 3-31 and wrap up the win.

England face New Zealand in their final warm-up game on Wednesday (08:00 GMT).

Elsewhere, there was a 44-run win for Australia, with Meg Lanning's side bowling India out for just 85, after being restricted to 129-8.

Australia were 10-3 after four overs, but Georgia Wareham (32* off 17) and Jess Jonassen (22* off 14) lifted them to a total, before Darcie Brown took 4-17.

New Zealand defended 123-5 to beat West Indies by 37 runs, while Pakistan chased 105 with four overs left against Bangladesh.

Ireland fell just short against Sri Lanka, being bowled out for 147 in pursuit of 150.

The World Cup starts on Friday with South Africa facing Sri Lanka in Cape Town (17:00 GMT).

This article originally appeared on BBC Sport

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