A batting collapse saw the Proteas Women suffer an eight-wicket defeat to India in the final of the Quadrangular Series in Potchefstroom on Sunday.
Jhulan Goswami and Poonam Yadav shared six wickets between them, restricting the hosts to a modest 156 in 40.2 overs after putting them in to bat first.
Andrie Steyn could not repeat her heroics from the previous match and departed early after she was trapped lbw for four.
Fellow opener Suné Luus top-scored with 55 off 74 deliveries in her 50th ODI for South Africa, and tried to steady the ship with Mignon du Preez after Trisha Chetty was dismissed for six.
Du Preez (30) complimented Luus well and the pair put on 73 for the fourth wicket before the former was caught behind off Shikha Pandey (2/23).
The beginning of the end came as South Africa moved from 117/4 after the loss of Luus to 145/8 exactly in the 38th over.
They then promptly lost Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk for 18 and 10 respectively as South Africa slipped to 131/6.
Stand-in captain Chloe Tryon added 20 vital runs to the tally, but the ducks to Shabnim Ismail and Ayabonga Khaka kept the home side on the back foot for the remainder of their innings.
India’s Punam Raut set up her side’s reply, hitting an unbeaten 70 from 92 balls to get her side to victory.
The opener absorbed the pressure well when she lost opening partner Deepti Sharma to Ismail for eight in the ninth over, and continued to forge ahead when Mona Meshram succumbed to Kapp for two.
Raut and skipper Mithali Raj (62 not) shared a match-winning unbeaten 127-run third-wicket partnership that took their side all the way.
South Africa’s Tryon was disappointed to lose the series, but believes that the team has gathered the information that they need going into the ICC Women’s World Cup in England next month.
“It’s been a good quadrangular series for us. Today (we) didn’t show that, but we’ve definitely gotten what we wanted out of this tournament in terms of looking ahead to the bigger picture, which is preparation for the World Cup,” she said.
#CSAnews India comfortably clinch women’s quadrangular series https://t.co/90KQDmvnoc #ProteasWomen #WomensQuadrangular pic.twitter.com/P7HYmrkVAS
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) May 21, 2017
Coach Hilton Moreeng is satisfied that his team have given him and the national selectors a good headache ahead of the announcement of the World Cup squad this week.
“It’s a good headache to have,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve had this problem in women’s cricket in a really long time. It’s great to see players putting up their hands and demanding to be counted. It bodes well for the future and also for the World Cup itself.
“From a series point of view, I’m happy with what we have achieved. Today didn’t go as planned, but I’ve seen enough exciting performances from this team during this quadrangular to make me happy going into final discussions about the World Cup.”
The World Cup squad will be announced on Tuesday.