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T20 Women’s Cricket World Cup ;
Proteas women tame Lady Lions
Anuradha ABEYSEKERA
Sri Lanka tasted a bitter six-wicket defeat against South Africa in
their women's T20 World Cup ‘group B’ opening match at the Galle
International Cricket ground yesterday.
After winning the toss, South Africa elected Sri Lanka to bat first
and skittled them out for paltry 79 runs in 20 overs. Local girls did
not perform well against the superb bowling attack of the Proteas women
and were struggling to score from the beginning.
South Africa captain Mignon du Preez's decision to bowl first brought
early good results for them as Sri Lanka lost their first four wickets
for 17 runs by the eighth over. Sri Lanka's hopes were shattered when
their captain and most promising batting contender Shashikala
Siriwardena was dismissed for seven runs. The only local batting class
was Dilani Manodara who came in at number six and scored 24 runs.
Dilani and Chamani Seneviratna tried hard to build up the Sri Lankan
innings and registered the highest partnership of their innings, 31 runs
off 29 balls for the seventh wicket.
Sri Lanka had to pay the price for their poor running between the
wickets and five of their batting department were sent off to the
pavilion on run-outs.
Susan Benade and Van Niekerk were the most successful bowlers for
South Africa, capturing two wickets each.
Proteas wicketkeeper batter Trisha Chetty was awarded Player of the
Match for her fine performance with the bat and behind the stumps,
assisting with four run-outs, a catch and a stumping.
South Africa reached the winning target without much trouble in 17.2
overs with six wickets to spare. Trisha Chetty and Shandre Fritz were
the top scorers for Proteas who scored 33 not out and 14 runs
respectively. Sri Lanka introduced spin as early as in the third over
and tried to resist the Proteas batting attack.
They used five of their bowlers within the first six overs but none
of them was able to stop South Africa’s victory.
Inoka Ranaweera picked up two wickets while leg spinner Deepika
Rasangika claimed a wicket for Sri Lanka.
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