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The women's T20 World Cup was finally here but the result caught everyone by surprise. Sri Lanka's fighting spirit and never say die attitude helped them to prevail in the end. It will take some time for the Newlands crowd that turned up in good numbers to believe what they witnessed. But in the end, the deserving team won as South Africa didn't find any answer to solve the Sri Lankan spin puzzle. Let's see if this is the start of many surprises in store for us as the action shifts to Paarl for tomorrow's double-header. Do catch the live coverage on our Sportskeeda page at 6:00 pm IST as West Indies Women lock horns with England Women in the first match. Until then, it's goodbye and goodnight from Pragadeesh and Arya
Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka Women Captain): We build a good culture in the team. There are a lot of youngsters in the teams and the seniors share their knowledge. If I won the toss I would've batted first. 140-150 is a good total but we ended up with 129. We upset big teams on a couple of occasions and this time we wanted to play good cricket and try to go to the semi-finals. This is my 8th T20 world and I hope I can do better in this world cup and help the team reach the semis. The crowd supports Women's cricket and thanks to all of them for turning up
Sune Luus (South Africa Women Captain): First of all thanks to the crowd for coming. Hope you guys keep coming back and enjoy Women's Cricket as much as we do. Sri Lanka build good partnerships and we lacked those partnerships in our batting. I thought chasing 130 was a par score even 140-150 was a good total to chase. One match doesn't define the team, there is still a long way to go. A lot of positives to take. Our powerplay bowling was excellent
Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka captain and Player of the Match): I am really happy, I always try to lead from the front. I want to be a role model for the team. Our bowling attack and now today's batting is doing well. South Africa is one of the best teams in the world playing in their home conditions but happy to get away with the win. Vishmi is a new superstar in our team, very happy with her performance. Just play my natural game, just focus on the next game, and also focus on what is ahead,
Sri Lanka won by 3 runs Chamari Athapaththu 68(50) | Sune Luus 28(27) Inoka Ranaweera 3-18(4) | Oshadi Ranasinghe 2-20(4)
Who saw this coming? It's a magical win for Sri Lanka and they have surely sent a strong message to all the other teams. For South Africa, on the other hand, It's a tough loss to swallow in front of their home fans but they have to accept that they didn't live up to the expectations with the bat
It was a decent start in the powerplay for South Africa but the middle phase completely belonged to Sri Lanka as the spinners dominated proceedings and made the total of 130 look very big. Wicket kept tumbling as the South African middle order fell prey to the Sri Lankan spinners. Sune Luus got stuck at one end but she kept losing partners. The partnership between Luus and Jafta instilled some hope as the duo dragged the team back to the contest. With 20 runs needed in the final two overs, Ranaweera got rid of Luus before Jafta was run out while trying to take an unnecessary single. Two massive wickets in the penultimate over turned the match in Sri Lanka's favour and Kumari kept her cool and defended 13 runs in the final over
20
overs
126/9score
2
1W
1
1
0
4
runs
Nonkululeko Mlaba*
5(3)
Ayabonga Khaka
1(2)
Sugandika Kumari
3/28
19.6 Sugandika Kumari to Nonkululeko Mlaba, FOUR! A big win for Sri Lanka. Slices away the fuller-length delivery a shade outside off down towards the long-off region for a boundary. That accounts to nothing as Sri Lanka win a thriller by 3 runs.
19.5 Sugandika Kumari to Nonkululeko Mlaba, tossed-up delivery around off, an inside edge onto his pads ffor Mlaba.
8 needed off 2 deliveries. This ball has to disappear for a boundary or a maximum
19.4 Sugandika Kumari to Ayabonga Khaka, Khaka comes down the track and cuts away the length delivery outside off down towards cover-point for a single.
19.3 Sugandika Kumari to Nonkululeko Mlaba, fuller on middle, squeezed away down towards long-on for a single.
Nonkululeko Mlaba, RHB, walks in at no.11
19.2 Sugandika Kumari to Shabnim Ismail, WICKET! Ismail works away the length delivery on middle down towards the on side, played it with soft hands and was looking for a brace. It wasn't quite on and Ismail falls short off the crease and has to head back to the pavilion.
Shabnim Ismail run out (Kumari/ Sanjeewani) 7 (4b, 1x4, 0x6)
19.1 Sugandika Kumari to Shabnim Ismail, Ismail comes down the ground and drill it away back past the bowler and has enough time to return for a brace.
Sugandika Kumari (3-0-19-2) to bowl the final over of the match
Two extra fielders are asked to come inside the circle as Sri Lanka face an over-rate penalty
Nearly a triple wicket over and surely this is Sri Lanka's game to lose from here on. Ranaweera repaid Athapaththu's faith and delivered for the team but still the job is not fully done
19
overs
117/8score
1
1wd
1
W
4
W
0
runs
Ayabonga Khaka*
0(1)
Shabnim Ismail
4(2)
Inoka Ranaweera
4/18
18.6 Inoka Ranaweera to Ayabonga Khaka, a tossed up delivery outside off, Khaka goes flashing hard at that, gets beaten on the outside edge and the keeper whips of the bails in a flash. Stumping check going on, clear gap between bat and ball. This looks very close to the naked eye. The foot might just be on the line here. Something is behind the line and the decision will be Not Out.
Ayabonga Khaka, RHB, walks in at no.10
18.5 Inoka Ranaweera to Shabnim Ismail, WICKET! Slower through the air, on a length around off, Ismail misses the attempted work through the leg side, trickles down towards short third man and they sets off for a non-existent single. An easy run out for Sri Lanka at the batting end.
Sinalo Jafta run out (Ranasinghe/Sanjeewani) 15 (9b, 2x4, 0x6)
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Newlands, Cape Town
Nonkululeko Mlaba
*
Sugandika Kumari
Video
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