‘Sarah Taylor the best wicket-keeper in the world, men or women' – Dane van Niekerk

Dane van Niekerk, the South Africa Women captain, said losing the ODI series to England Women 1-2, having taken the lead after the first ODI, was “very disappointing”.

In the deciding game at Canterbury on Friday 15 June, van Niekerk’s 95 helped South Africa post 228 after they opted to bat first. However, Tammy Beaumont scored a 123-ball 105 to help England stroll home with seven wickets in hand.

“Very disappointing. Starting off with a win, you think the series is well and truly in your hands,” said van Niekerk. “It was the case in the last two games, but we found a way to let the games slip.”

Defending 228, South Africa made early inroads, dismissing Amy Jones and Sarah Taylor to keep England to 51/2 in 14 overs. But a 154-run stand between Beaumont and Heather Knight (80), the captain, helped the home clinch the series.

Van Niekerk felt one more wicket would have made the difference. “We definitely thought we were (in the game),” she said. “Even though Tammy (Beaumont) was still there, we felt that we restricted them really well, and thought if we could get one more, we could get into the middle order as they didn’t really have enough batting.

“But Tammy stuck at it. She was struggling at the start, but she really stuck at it and played really well.” Beaumont stayed on till the 41st over take England to the brink of victory. But van Niekerk felt her bowlers made it a struggle for Beaumont when they got their lengths right.

“It’s very difficult when she (Beaumont) is in form,” said the South Africa captain. “I felt that we didn’t hit our lengths to her, and when we got it right she struggled to score. But a wonderful hundred from her, yes.”

As for her own knock, van Niekerk fell five runs short of what would have been her maiden ODI century, stumped by the excellent Sarah Taylor.

Van Niekerk felt she was lucky to get as far as she did. “I was really lucky, to be honest. I wasn’t even supposed to be close to 95, but I call myself very lucky,” she said. “It wasn’t meant to be against Sarah Taylor. She showed why she is the best wicket-keeper in the world, men or women.

“I laughed because nine out of ten times that would probably go for four, but it was not meant to be and kudos to Sarah for that.”

England, South Africa and New Zealand play a T20 tri-series from 20 June in Taunton. Asked what South Africa would need to do to come back strong for the series, van Niekerk said they needed to persist when the going gets tough.

“We need to fight more for wickets and not just expect wickets to come,” she said. “When there is a partnership – and I think it is the nature of cricket – we still need to stick at it and I don’t think we do that long enough.

“It is almost as if our bowlers get bored. We will get back to the drawing board and hopefully rectify the wrongs for the T20s.”