Innings England 417 for 8 dec (Sciver 169*, Davidson-Richards 107) lead South Africa 284 by 133 runs
Sciver, 119 not out overnight, surpassed Marizanne Kapp’s 150 in South Africa’s first innings to end unbeaten with 169 when England declared. Having resumed with a 44-run advantage, Sciver and Sophie Ecclestone added another 65 runs in the first hour, both finding the boundary with relative ease as they looked to accelerate.
Sciver had shared a 207-run partnership for the sixth wicket with old school-mate Alice Davidson-Richards, who fell on the final ball of the second day having made a century on her Test debut.
Anneke Bosch dropped a return catch off Ecclestone, on 18 at the time, in her second over of the day, the firmly struck chance slipping through her hands during her follow-through.
Then, making matters worse, Sciver immediately picked off consecutive boundaries, pulled through square leg and cracked over midwicket. She brought up her 150 a short time later pushing Nonkululeko Mlaba to long on for a single.
Ecclestone fell for a handy 35 walking across her stumps trying to clip Mlaba towards fine leg when she was struck on the front pad in line with leg stump.
Kate Cross’ dismissal four balls later prompted England’s declaration after Sciver hit another Mlaba delivery towards midwicket where Nadine de Klerk gathered and threw to the non-striker’s end. Cross had turned back but failed to ground her bat.
The declaration left Sciver 20 runs shy of Betty Snowball’s record for the highest Test score by an England Women’s player, set in 1935. But with rain forecast for the third evening and fourth day and England keen to force a result, team goals took precedence over personal milestones.
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