SL v SA Women’s World T20: Sri Lanka claim bragging rights

The Sri Lanka eves edged past a resolute South Africa with a 10-wicket win in the final Super 10’s fixture of the Women’s category of the World T20 2016. The match also marked the final game of the tournament that will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Despite both sides out of the tournament, pride was at stake for both teams.

Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Attapatu won the toss and opted to bat first, especially given the history of the M Chinnaswamy wicket. Despite Attapatu taking it upon herself to lay the foundation, the Lankan top order fell away. Yasoda Mendis fell first after being cleaned up by Shabnim Ismail. Dilani Manodara and Anushka Sanjeewani fell for 4 and 7 soon after as the Lankans were stuttering at 70-3 with just 7 overs left to play.

Matters went from bad to worse when Attapatu was run-out in perhaps the most unfortunate of circumstances. With 3 overs remaining, it was certainly a backward step for the Sri Lanka eves. Prasadini Weerakkody and Eshani Lokusuriyage led a brief revival, knocking 15 and 11 respectively. However, there was little or no support from the tail-enders as the Lankan eves scampered to a substandard total of 114/7 in their quota of 20 overs. Marizanne Kapp and Suné Luus were the picks of the bowlers for the Proteas picking up two wickets apiece.

South Africa openers Dane van Niekerk and Trisha Chetty got the Proteas off to a decent start despite a few hurdles on the way. Van Niekerk made 24 while Chetty scored a healthy 26 as it seemed as though the Proteas would scale the peak without much of a problem. However, the momentum was broken when van Niekerk was run out by Prasadini Weerakkody. Thus began the South African collapse.

South Africa skipper Mignon du Preez was dismissed for a first-ball duck as she was trapped leg-before by her opposite number Chamari Attapatu. Unfortunately for the Proteas, none of their batsmen showed no intent of scoring the required runs to secure a victory. Lizelle Lee hit only the second six of the match in a futile and desperate bid to revive the situation. However, it was a bit too late for fireworks as the Proteas were restricted to 104 for the loss of 7 wickets, 10 runs short of their target.

Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Attapatu was named the man of the match courtesy of her impressive 52.

Brief Scores

Sri Lanka 114/7 in 20 overs (Attapatu 52; Kapp 2/17)

South Africa 104/7 in 20 overs (Chetty 26; Prabodhani 2/13)