De Klerk’s 84 not out stuns India as South Africa wins by 3 wickets at Women’s Cricket World Cup

VISAKHAPATNAM, India (AP) — Nadine de Klerk hit 84 not out off 54 balls as South Africa upset hosts India by three wickets at the Women’s Cricket World Cup on Thursday.

De Klerk, who stroked five sixes and eight fours, put on vital lower-order partnerships after skipper Laura Wolvaardt hit 70 off 111 balls to help South Africa reach 252-7 in 48.5 overs.

That was in reply to India’s 251 all out in 49.5 overs. De Klerk took 2-52 and Chloe Tyron picked up 3-32 in 10 overs as South Africa's bowlers restricted India to 102-6 at one stage.

Richa Ghosh’s 94 off 77 balls — including four sixes and 11 fours — helped take India to a competitive total before the Proteas registered a winning chase.

It was South Africa’s second straight win following a lopsided, 10-wicket opening loss to England, and it is now fourth in the standings. The Proteas next play Bangladesh at the same venue on Monday.

“I am lost for words at the moment,” said De Klerk, the player of the match. “I just wanted to finish the game, so I tried to dig deep and give ourselves the best chance. I do love being under pressure and hopefully this gives us a lot of confidence. I love World Cups and (there is) no bigger stage than playing India at home.”

India is still third – with two wins from three games — ahead of Sunday's game against defending champion Australia.

New Zealand takes on Bangladesh in Guwahati on Friday.

Put into bat, India’s batting failed to impress for the third time running. It did get a start – Smriti Mandhana (23) and Pratika Rawal (37) added 55 for the first wicket.

Left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba (2-46) dismissed Mandhana in the 11th over and then bowled Harleen Deol for 13. In between, Rawal was out caught to leave India at 91-3.

Tyron trapped Jemimah Rodrigues for a four-ball duck, and then dismissed skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (9) as India slipped to 100-5. It shortly became 102-6 as Marizanne Kapp (2-45) sent back Deepti Sharma.

Richa Ghosh turned the innings around with a patient 51 off 84 balls with Amanjot Kaur (13). She then added another 88 off 53 with Sneh Rana, who scored 33 off 24 balls.

Ghosh posted her half-century from 53 balls, and finished with her second-highest ODI score.

The Proteas lost Tazmin Brits for a three-ball duck just days after she scored a century against New Zealand.

Like India, the Proteas lost regular top-order wickets and was down to 81-5 in 19.4 overs with Sune Luus (5) and Marizanne Kapp (20) back in the pavillion as well.

But skipper Wolvaardt held one end – she reached 50 off 81 balls – and strung together vital partnerships to save the innings.

First, she added 23 off 33 with Sinalo Jafta (14) to stem the tide, and then another 61 off 97 balls with Tryon in a momentum-turning partneship.

Gaud bowled Wolvaardt in the 36th over and there was still a lot to be done at 142-6. De Klerk and Tryon combined to script a stunning chase.

Sneh Rana trapped Tryon lbw in the 46th over for one final twist, but de Klerk resisted further.

She scored 50 off 40 balls, adding 41 off 18 balls with Ayabonga Khaka (1 not out) in a race to the finish.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

India's Richa Ghosh reacts to her batting partner as she is caught by South Africa's Chole Tryon during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and South Africa at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India's Richa Ghosh bats during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and South Africa at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

South Africa's Chole Tryon plays a shot during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and South Africa at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

South Africa's Nadine de Klerk plays a shot during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and South Africa at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur trains ahead of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and South Africa at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur, right, listens as South Africa's captain Laura Wolvaardt, center, speaks to the commentator Nasser Hussain at the toss ahead of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and South Africa at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

The Pentagon said Thursday that it is changing the independent military newspaper Stars and Stripes so it concentrates on “reporting for our warfighters” and no longer includes “woke distractions.”

That message, in a social media post from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's spokesman, is short on specifics and does not mention the news outlet's legacy of independence from government and military leadership. It comes a day after The Washington Post reported that applicants for jobs at Stars and Stripes were being asked what they would do to support President Donald Trump's policies.

Stars and Stripes traces its lineage to the Civil War and has reported news about the military either in its newspaper or online steadily since World War II, largely to an audience of service members stationed overseas. Roughly half of its budget comes from the Pentagon and its staff members are considered Defense Department employees.

The outlet's mission statement emphasizes that it is “editorially independent of interference from outside its own editorial chain-of-command” and that it is unique among news organizations tied to the Defense Department in being “governed by the principles of the First Amendment.”

Congress established that independence in the 1990s after instances of military leadership getting involved in editorial decisions. During Trump's first term in 2020, Defense Secretary Mark Esper tried to eliminate government funding for Stars and Stripes — to effectively shut it down — before he was overruled by the president.

Hegseth's spokesman, Sean Parnell, said on X Thursday that the Pentagon “is returning Stars and Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters.” He said the department will “refocus its content away from woke distractions.”

“Stars and Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters,” Parnell wrote. “It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”

Parnell did not return a message seeking details. The Daily Wire reported, after speaking a Pentagon spokeswoman, that the plan is to have all Stars and Stripes content written by active-duty service members. Currently, Congress has mandated that the publication's publisher and top editor be civilians, said Max Lederer, its publisher.

The Pentagon also said that half of the outlet's content would be generated by the Defense Department, and that it would no longer publish material from The Associated Press or Reuters news services.

Also Thursday, the Pentagon issued a statement in the Federal Register that it would eliminate some 1990s era directives that governed how Stars and Stripes operates. Lederer said it's not clear what that would mean for the outlet's operations, or whether the Defense Department has the authority to do so without congressional authorization.

The publisher said he believes that Stars and Stripes is valued by the military community precisely because of its independence as a news organization. He said no one at the Pentagon has communicated to him what it wants from Stars and Stripes; he first learned of its intentions from reading Parnell's social media post.

“This will either destroy the value of the organization or significantly reduce its value,” Lederer said.

Jacqueline Smith, the outlet's ombudsman, said Stars and Stripes reports on matters important to service members and their families — not just weapons systems or war strategy — and she's detected nothing “woke” about its reporting.

“I think it's very important that Stars and Stripes maintains its editorial independence, which is the basis of its credibility,” Smith said. A longtime newspaper editor in Connecticut, Smith's role was created by Congress three decades ago and she reports to the House Armed Services Committee.

It's the latest move by the Trump administration to impose restrictions on journalists. Most reporters from legacy news outlets have left the Pentagon rather than to agree to new rules imposed by Hegseth that they feel would give him too much control over what they report and write. The New York Times has sued to overturn the regulations.

Trump has also sought to shut down government-funded outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that report independent news about the world in countries overseas.

Also this week, the administration raided the home of a Washington Post journalist as part of an investigation into a contractor accused of stealing government secrets, a move many journalists interpreted as a form of intimidation.

The Post reported that applicants to Stars and Stripes were being asked how they would advance Trump's executive orders and policy priorities in the role. They were asked to identify one or two orders or initiatives that were significant to them. That raised questions about whether it was appropriate for a journalist to be given what is, in effect, a loyalty test.

Smith said it was the government's Office of Personnel Management — not the newspaper — that was responsible for the question on job applications and said it was consistent with what was being asked of applicants for other government jobs.

But she said it was not something that should be asked of journalists. “The loyalty is to the truth, not the administration,” she said.

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

US soldier Sgt. John Hubbuch of Versailles, Ky., one of the members of NATO led-peacekeeping forces in Bosnia reads Stars and Stripes newspaper on Sunday Feb. 14, 1999. (AP Photo/Amel Emric, File)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stands outside the Pentagon during a welcome ceremony for Japanese Defense Minister Shinjirō Koizumi at the Pentagon, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf/)

FILE - A GI with the U.S. 25th division reads Stars and Stripes newspaper at Cu Chi, South Vietnam on Sept. 10, 1969. (AP Photo/Mark Godfrey)