South Africa Women will lock horns against Sri Lanka Women in the 11th T20I cricket match of the 2022 Commonwealth Games tournament at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday.
South Africa, led by Sune Luus, is currently placed third on the table in Group B having lost both of their matches in the tournament. The team from the African continent started their campaign with a narrow 13-run loss against New Zealand but they failed to win their next game as well against England succumbing to a 26-run defeat thus failing to make it to the semis.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Women lost their first match against England Women by five wickets and are placed in the last position in the Group B table. They also lost their second game to New Zealand and are also out of contention for the semis race.
Thus, this game is basically a dead rubber and the result won’t change any spots when it comes to teams fighting for medal contention in the group. However, both sides will be playing for their pride and would definitely not want to finish the group bottom placed.
What have they done so far?
South Africa, already without a couple of stars in this tournament, came close to winning their opener against New Zealand but fell short of 13 runs. Chasing 168, South Africa kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and thus ended up at 154 losing the two points from that game.
The Proteas though lost their next game convincingly to a strong English side that defeated the visitors by a margin of 26 runs. This result ended South African hopes of making it to the semi-finals of the event.
Anneke Bosch and Tazmin Brits felt in touch in the NZ game, and they would have to set up a strong partnership in this game as well. Mignon du Preez, Laura Wolvaardt, and Chole Tryon got starts in the last game and this would add to the side’s confidence. They will have to do well if South Africa is to win the match. Luus played well down the order in the previous game, and she will have to add runs with Delmi Tucker and Sinalo Jafta.
Shabnim Ismail and Nonkululeko Mlaba came up with good spells in the NZ game and the same would be expected of the duo in this game as well. The Proteas would want the duo to put Sri Lanka on the backfoot with early wickets. Ayabonga Khaka had a poor outing in both the games of the tournament, and she will have to come up with a better spell. Tryon, Anneke Bosch, and Tucker have key roles in the supporting act as Sri Lanka has a strong batting line-up.
Sri Lanka was thrashed by both England and New Zealand in their group B game
Sri Lanka Women started their Commonwealth Games campaign with a poor performance against England Women. After opting to bat first, Sri Lanka Women could only manage 106-9 on the board and England Women chased the total down in 17.1 overs with 5 wickets to spare.
None of the batters could make a healthy contribution and looked all at sea against England’s bowling. The onus will be on captain Chamari Athapaththu and Nilakshi de Silva to lead the batting unit in this game. Athapaththu is the team’s highest run-getter against South Africa Women with 249 runs.
Sri Lanka Women’s bowling department did a much better job in their last game against England. Right-arm medium pacer Oshadi Ranasinghe impressed with a spell of 2-20 in 4 overs while left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera was their best bowler with figures of 3-29 from 4 overs. Right-arm medium-pacer Ama Kanchana has the second-best bowling figures for Sri Lanka Women against New Zealand Women – 3-22.
Head to Head Record
In 12 matches between the two sides, South Africa Women have the better record having won nine out of the 12 matches, while their counterparts Sri Lanka Women have won three. The most recent fixture between the two sides was won by South Africa as the Proteas defeated the Lioness by a whopping margin of 39 runs on February 6th 2019.
Key Players
Shabnim Ismail (South Africa): The right-arm pace sensation from South Africa, Shabnim Ismail is an attacking bowler and a genuine wicket-taker. She bowls well with the new ball and has good bouncers in her repertoire.
Though she went wicket-less in the match against New Zealand, she came back stronger and scalped two wickets for 27 runs against England and will be raring to go against Sri Lanka, despite the game being a dead rubber.
Chamari Athapaththu is the player to watch out for from the Sri Lankan team
Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka): The captain of Sri Lanka is a left-handed opening batter and a right-arm off-spinner. She did not have the best of days on the field against both England and New Zealand in her last match.
She scored 10 off 18 and conceded 11 runs in 2.1 overs against England while she got out for a duck and leaked 24 runs against the Kiwis. Though she had an ordinary outing in her last appearance, she will be a vital cog in the Sri Lankan line-up.
Predicted Playing XI
South Africa: Sune Luus (C), Tazmin Brits, Anneke Bosch, Laura Wolvaardt, Mignon du Preez, Chloe Tryon, Delmi Tucker, Sinalo Jafta (WK), Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba
Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (C), Vishmi Gunaratne, Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani (WK), Ama Kanchana, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera, Achini Kulasuriya
Prediction
South Africa Women have won six of the last seven games they have played against Sri Lanka Women. They have a very strong batting unit and a good bowling department as well.
Sri Lanka is dependent on their captain to do the bulk of the scoring and will need a herculean effort to get past the Proteas who are looking in great form. South Africa women hence start as overwhelming favourites for this clash.