Women’s T20 World Cup: SL stun hosts South Africa in thrilling World Cup opener

Sri Lanka produced a stunning upset to beat tournament hosts South Africa on a hugely entertaining opening night of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 on Friday.

The Lankans successfully defended 129 after skipper Chamari Athapaththu’s excellent 68 had helped them to a competitive total, with the spin trio of Sri Lanka doing much of the damage in the second innings.

All of the South African top five reached double figures in the chase, but wickets fell at regular intervals as Sri Lanka’s bowlers delivered in style to earn them a huge victory, with seven wickets falling to spin, with the remaining two being run outs.

The tournament hosts had won the toss and opted to bowl first at a packed-out Newlands, with Shabnim Ismail and Marizanne Kapp turning the screw in the first few overs, playing a big part in restricting the score to 28/0 after the powerplay.

Nadine de Klerk struck in her first over to remove Harshitha Samarawickrama (8), but skipper Athapaththu and 17-year-old Vishmi Gunaratne (35) accelerated superbly through the middle overs to put the Proteas under pressure.

Some outstanding death bowling from Kapp and Ismail, combined with inspired fielding from Tazmin Brits, restricted Sri Lanka at the back end to limit them to 129/4.

Tazmin Brits fell early to a catch in the covers, but South Africa laid the platform for the chase, reaching 38/1 at the end of the powerplay overs.

However, some outstanding bowling saw Sri Lanka remove both Kapp and Laura Wolvaardt to leave the Proteas at 56/3 at the midway point of the chase.

And a double-wicket over saw Chloe Tryon and Anneke Bosch sent back to the hutch to leave the tournament hosts in trouble, with the required rate climbing as the game headed for the death overs.

The game was on a knife edge as wickets continued to fall, with a stumping ending Sune Luus’ (28) resistance and a brilliant run out sending Sinalo Jafta (15) back.

And the superb Sugandika Kumari held her nerve in the final over to seal the win for Sri Lanka, with South Africa ending three runs short.

Chief scores:

Sri Lanka Women: 129/5 (20) overs (Chamari Athapaththu 68, Vishmi Gunaratne 35; Marizanne Kapp 1-15) beat

South Africa Women: 126/9 (20) overs (Sune Luus 28; Inoka Ranaweera 3-18, Oshadi Ranasinghe 2-20)