Captain Chamari Atapattu’s 63 steered Sri Lanka Women to a four-wicket win against South Africa Women to equalise the series 1-1 in Colombo, after the match was reduced to 27 overs a side.
Put in to bat South Africa got a stable start with an opening stand of 42 in nine overs. But found themselves 56 for 3 in the 13th over as Inoka Ranaweera struck twice within the first 15 overs. Mignon du Preez and Marizanne Kapp put on 48 runs in 9.2 overs before both were dismissed within a span of three overs, for 34 and 29 respectively.
South Africa found themselves in further trouble as wickets kept tumbling from both ends. However, 12 runs from the last over with fours from Chloe Tryon and Shabnim Ismail led them to 139. Mignon du Preez top scored for the South African Women with a hard fought 34 off 44 balls which included 2 fours. Ama Kanchana took 3 wickets for just 26 runs while Inoka Ranaweera’s early double blow helped her end up with 2 wickets to her name.
Sri Lanka got a flying start from Prasadani Weerakkody and Chamari Atapattu, who put on 28 in the first three overs. Weerakkody was the first wicket to fall for the Sri Lankan Women as she was dismissed for a quick fire 17 runs off 12 balls which included 4 boundaries. Yasoda Mendis then joined the captain and the duo put together 50 runs in 52 balls.
Captain Chamari Atapattu steered them closer with her seventh ODI fifty but lost three more partners and then she herself got out, the score read 128 for 6 as Eshani Kaushalya and Ama Kanchana were dismissed for 6 and 0 respectively.
The required rate never went above five and Sri Lanka Women won the game in the penultimate over despite the three wickets from Shabnim Ismail. Captain Chamari Atapattu top scored for Sri Lanka with a well made 63 while Yasoda Mendis scored 26 valuable runs for the hosts. Shabnim Ismail topped the wicket chart with 3 wickets while Marizanne Kapp was the only other South African bowler to pick wickets.
Brief Score:
Sri Lanka Women 143 for 6 (Chamari Atapattu 63, Yasoda Mendis 26, Shabnim Ismail 3-34) beat South Africa Women 139 for 7 (Mignon Du Preez 34, Marizanne Kapp 29, Ama Kanchana 3-26) by 4 wickets
