Four drop catches, three of them costly, saw the Proteas women fall to a bitterly disappointing six wicket defeat to the New Zealand White Ferns, led by a top half century from Sophie Devine, in the fourth T20I at the Sky Stadium in Wellington on Sunday.
The loss means the hosts take an unassailable three-one lead in the five match series, ahead of the fifth and final T20I in Christchurch this coming Wednesday.
Other than a solid performance in the second T20I, the Proteas have been largely outplayed in the other three, although their fielding, which came under scrutiny during their recent home series against Pakistan, will definitely come under the spotlight again.
In the match New Zealand’s two top scorers, Devine, 64 off 34 balls (6x4; 4x6), and Amelia Kerr, 31 off 29 (4x4), were both dropped, as the Proteas fielding allowed the hosts to chase down the 160-run target with nine balls to spare.
It was the two drops of Devine that proved most costly however, after she was dropped without scoring by Chloe Tryon off the bowling of Kayla Reneke, and was then dropped by Reyneke on 25 off Nadine de Klerk, before kicking on to get her team close when she was finally taken at the third time of asking.
“We were very pleased with the score that we got to considering our first 10 overs, and thought it was a par total. Annerie was amazing and shows the power that she has which was awesome to see,” said Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt after the match.
“It was a tough second half (of the match). When you give players like Sophie Devine a couple of chances you are going to regret it, and she batted really well and took the game away from us. We back ourselves to take our chances, so that was disappointing.”
“We have a lot to learn and this (defeat) will give us a lot to discuss in the next few days to see where we can be better. We are obviously up against a really good side who are really hitting their straps and not giving us a sniff, and we will have to go back to the drawing board and come back better.”
An incredible knock! 🇿🇦
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) March 22, 2026
A memorable innings from Annerie Dercksen as she brought up her maiden T20I half-century for #TheProteas. 🏏✨#Unbreakable pic.twitter.com/lm9RdOzTD4
The White Ferns chase got off to a mixed start, after Izzy Gaze (6) was dropped by Reyneke off Ayanda Hlubi in the first over, but skied the first ball from Annerie Dercksen to keeper Karabo Meso at the start of the third with the score 9/1.
Opener Georgia Plimmer, 29 off 22 (5x4), and Amelia Kerr then combine for a good 48-run stand off 34 balls to get the chase up and running, before Tryon had Plimmer stumped by Meso in the eight over to reduce them to 57/2.
The following ninth over was then arguably where the Proteas lost the match, as Reyneke came on to bowl and had Devine sweeping her third ball straight to Tryon at deep squad leg, only for her to shell the catch.
Off the very next ball, Amelia Kerr on 22 top edged it to short fine leg where Nonkululeko Mlaba dropped her on the dive.
That allowed the two to share in a 46-run partnership, which included Devine being dropped by Reyneke off De Klerk in the 13th over.
Although Amelia Kerr was caught by Mlaba off Tryon in the 14th, and Devine finally fell, caught by a diving De Klerk off Mlaba at the start of the 18th, the damage was already done and Brooke Halliday (16 not out) and Maddie Green (nine not out) eased them over the line.
At the start of play the Proteas won the toss and chose to bat, and were led to a competitive 159/6 in their 20 overs by a career best T20I score from Dercksen, as she powered her way to her first T20I half century, striking eight fours and a six, as she finished on an impressive unbeaten 55 off 32 balls.
She received good support from De Klerk, 20 off 14 (2x4), and Reynecke, 13 off eight (1x4; 1x6), down the back end of the innings, as they scored 59 runs off the last five overs.
New Zealand's all-round performance powers them to victory over South Africa in Wellington 💪
— ICC (@ICC) March 22, 2026
📝: https://t.co/p3phiiLu1W pic.twitter.com/d6gtuqwyWh
At the start of their innings, the Proteas got off to a slow start, despite a good second over where Sune Luus, 30 off 29 (4x4), and Tryon, 14 off eight (3x4), promoted up the order to open, struck three boundaries between them off Rosemary Mair.
But in the next over Tryon was on her way, trapped LBW by Jess Kerr, which saw the rate go down, as Luus and Wolvaardt (10) took them to the end of the six over powerplay on 41/1.
Having extended their struggling partnership to 33 off 39 balls, the Proteas then lost two wickets in three balls, with Luus stumped by keeper Gaze off the bowling of Amelia Kerr, and Wolvaardt popped an easy catch to Suzie Bates off Jess Kerr, as they slipped to 58/3 at the start of the 10th over.
That brought Tazmin Brits (8), who was dropped down the order for this game, in to join Dercksen and they shared in a 31-run stand as they tried to revive the innings.
But Brits never looked comfortable and eventually holed out to long on, where she was caught by Plimmer off Jess Kerr, leaving the Proteas in trouble on 89/4 in the 14th over.
De Klerk was next in and along with Dercksen they gave their team a boost with the biggest partnership of the innings, of 44-runs off 25 balls, which included 17 runs coming off Amelia Kerr’s 17th over.
De Klerk fell at the end of the 18th, sweeping Devine straight to Jess Kerr at short fine leg, which left Dercksen and Reyneke to continue the strong finish as they took 26 runs off the last two overs.
NEW ZEALAND: Georgia Plimmer, Izzy Gaze (wk), Amelia Kerr (capt), Sophie Devine, Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Izzy Sharp, Suzie Bates, Jess Kerr, Lea Tahuhu, Rosemary Mair.
SOUTH AFRICA: : Sune Luus, Tazmin Brits, Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Annerie Dercksen, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Kayla Reyneke, Karabo Meso (wk), Masabata Klaas, Ayanda Hlubi, Nonkululeko Mlaba.