Spending two and a half hours a day on her cricket, mainly battting and fielding, paid off for 17-year-old South African schoolgirl Sunette Viljoen today.

She played a leading hand in South Africa's last gasp five-wicket win over England in the CricInfo Women's World Cup at Lincoln University near Christchurch by scoring 54 not out, with her 50 coming off 61 balls, and fielding outstandingly as South Africa confined England to a paltry score of 143.

Viljoen has found New Zealand much to her liking since arriving here 10 days ago.

In two warm-up games against Canterbury she batted higher up the order than before in her career.

In her first game, at No 3, she scored 40, and then opening in the second game she scored 83.

However, her 54 not out today was the best score of her seven One-Day Internationals to date.

Given the sort of courage under fire that the deputy head girl from Rustenburg High School in South Africa's North West Province showed, it is not going to be too long before many higher scores are posted alongside her name.

"I was a bit nervous at first. I knew a lot of the players in the England team, we played against them in June and I wanted to do well against them, but also for my country," she said.

Viljoen said that in the last World Cup the South Africans did not play well against the spin bowlers and a lot of work had been put in to prepare for that this time. So the side was disappointed with its first-up showing against the Indians.

That made today's game vital for South Africa and Viljoen said she was very glad with the win.

"I was told to rotate the strike when I went out, to take the singles because we needed to score four an over.

"It was really nice batting with Daleen [Terblanche] as she batted nicely. It is also good to be able to play to get your eye in," she said.

The family influence is strong in her development and her experience of fielding the ball while her brother and father played cricket resulted in her playing cricket at school level.

It wasn't only with her batting that Viljoen distinguished herself. Her fielding in the point area sparked an outstanding South African fielding display and not surprisingly, the recently-retired Jonty Rhodes has been her inspiration.

"I have put much more work in on my fielding, almost more than my batting.

"My father throws the ball for me in the afternoons.

"I really try my best to be like Jonty. My aim is not to let a ball past me, if I am close enough to stop it," she said.

Viljoen said the result would do a lot for support for the team at home where there was much disappointment after the loss to India.

And she has marked her arrival on the international scene as one of the players important to the future development of the women's game in South Africa.

© CricInfo