Four fifties from the South African women’s team’s top-order helped secure a seven-wicket win in the fourth One Day International (ODI) against India on Sunday. With the win, the visitors have also clinched the five-match series with an unassailable 3-1 lead.

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Chasing a 267-run target at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, South Africa batters Lizelle Lee (69), Laura Wolvaardt (53), Migon du Preez (61) and Lara Goodall (59*) fired their side to victory in 48.4 overs.

India were made to pay for excluding Shafali Verma’s power-hitting and Shikha Pandey’s expertise in bowling from the playing XI as Punam Raut’s third ODI ton and veteran Harmanpreet Kaur’s brilliant half-century went in vain. 

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South Africa made a brisk start to their innings with opening duo Lee and skipper Wolvaardt scoring 116 runs in 23 overs. The two scored at a fairly quick rate without taking unnecessary risks until Kaur got the first breakthrough, trapping Lee for an lbw decision at 69. 

Wolvaardt soon followed her partner back to the pavilion, with Mansi Joshi striking to give life to India’s defence. However, Goodall and de Preez forged a 103-run partnership to pull clear of India and set up the series-clinching win. 

du Preez set the ball rolling by hitting Poonam Yadav for a six and four in the 34th over, lifting her team from 148/4 to 162. They needed 97 in the last 15 overs.

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du Preez carried on in the same vein until she fell to Rajeshwari Gayakwad while trying to loft one over mid-on. But Goodall stayed till the end to guide her team to victory.

Earlier, the 31-year-old Raut struck 10 boundaries in her unbeaten 104.

Harmanpreet smashed seven fours and a six, reaching her half-century in only 33 balls before falling to a slower ball. Soon after, Raut got to her century in 119 balls with a single.

Prior to that, Raut added 103 runs for the third wicket with skipper Mithali Raj (45 off 71 balls), who became the only player in women’s cricket to complete 7,000 ODI runs before getting out in the second powerplay.

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The century partnership laid the foundation for a challenging total against a South African side that won both their matches in the five-match series while chasing.

The fifth and final ODI will be played on Wednesday, March 17, before the three-match Twenty20 International series begins on March 20.