Marizanne Kapp’s good display with bat and ball helped South Africa Women to a comfortable win over Sri Lanka Women to give South Africa Women a winning start in the ICC Women’s Championship.
South Africa Women won the toss and chose to bat but got off to a bad start as they found themselves 17 for 2 in the seventh over. Opener Lizelle Lee stabilished the South African innings as she added 72 off 103 balls with 8 boundaries and 2 sixes. She was a part of two half-century partnerships with the middle order and Kapp ensured that period of stability was not going to stall as she managed a classy 89 off 90 balls, which included eight fours.
Marizanne Kapp’s stand of 85 with Dane van Niekerk for the fifth wicket rushed South Africa to a promising 225 at the end of 50 overs. Eshani Kaushalya and Ama Kanchana bagged two wickets each for Sri Lanka Women in the bowling department.
Sri Lanka’s reply barely got started before Kapp made further impact. She struck in the second over to dismiss Shashikala Siriwardene for a duck. Sri Lanka Women found themselves in further trouble as four of the top six were dismissed for single-figures as Sri Lanka languished at 66 for 6 in the 27th over.
Eshani Kaushalya struck a rapid 59 off 55 balls to frustrate South Africa but it was all in vain. She led a seventh-wicket partnership of 43 with Maduri Samuddika and added a further 47 with No. 10 Udeshika Prabodhani before being dismissed.
With the loss of Eshani Kaushalya the Sri Lankan Women only managed a mere 172 for the loss of 9 wickets in their allotted 50 as Marizanne Kapp finished with two wickets, as did fellow seamer Shabnim Ismail, and spinners van Niekerk and Yolani Fourie. All of them conceded less than four an over as the South African Women breezed to victory past the Sri Lanka Women in the 1st ODI of the ICC Women’s Championship.
Brief Scores:
South Africa women 225 for 8 (Marizanne Kapp 89*, Lizelle Lee 72, Eshani Kaushalya 2-24) beat Sri Lanka women 172 for 9 (Eshani Kaushalya 59, Shabnim Ismail 2-19 Marizanne Kapp 2-36) by 53 runs
