South Africa end their campaign with win

Saturday, 10 May 2025 00:36 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka’s Dewmi Vihanga exults after capturing her maiden five-wicket haul

Beat Sri Lanka by 76 runs in final league match of Women’s Tri-Nation Series

South Africa’s Annerie Dercksen rejoices after scoring her maiden century in WODI

Sri Lanka Captain Chamari Athapaththu found her best form scoring a fifty

Player of the Match South Africa’s Chloe Tryon celebrates taking a hat-trick

South Africa signed off the Women’s Tri-Nation Series with a comprehensive 76-run win over host Sri Lanka in the sixth and final league match played at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Although they couldn’t make it to the final which will be contested by Sri Lanka and India on Sunday, South Africa somewhat managed to end their campaign on a winning note.

Reduced to 127-6 due to 19-year-old off-spinner Dewmi Vihanga’s maiden five-wicket haul South Africa were greatly indebted to Annerie Dercksen and Chloe Tryon who were involved in a massive partnership as they led South Africa’s fight back and helped them post a daunting total. Dercksen notched up a rollicking maiden ODI century (104 off 84 balls, 9 fours, 5 sixes), while Tryon scored 74 off 51 (4 fours, 5 sixes) as South Africa finished with 315-9 in 50 overs. Their 112-run partnership is South Africa Women’s highest for the 7th wicket in WODIs, breaking the record of 94 between Cindy Eksteen and Ally Kuylaars.

Chasing such a stiff target was never going to be easy and although Sri Lanka had a few useful partnerships at the top, none of their batters were able to make significant contributions. The big positive for the Lankans is that their skipper, Chamari Athapaththu, seemed to have found some form during a 57-ball 52 (3 fours, 3 sixes).

Chloe Tryon bowling left-arm spin was equally impressive with the ball as she took a hat-trick, only the third by a South African woman and 13th overall in Women’s ODIs. She ended up picking five wickets in her spell – a perfect all-round performance that fetched her the Player of the Match award. Also the fielding between the two teams was significantly contrasting. Sri Lanka dropped 6-7 catches, while South Africa took some absolute blinders on the field.

South Africa’s winning Captain Laura Wolvaardt said, “Very nice to get a win in our last game of this series. It doesn’t happen that we score 300 runs two times in a row. It was a breakthrough season for her (Annerie Dercksen) with the bat. We learnt about the combination and depth in our squad. We have tried a few youngsters, they have made their debuts. It has been useful. Usually we have a good seam attack, but we tried to bring in spin in this series. It’s been awesome, we have liked our time here. We’ll be hanging around till the final, looking forward to relaxing a bit.”

Sri Lanka’s losing Captain Chamari Athapaththu said, “We bowled really well in the first 25 overs, but we struggled in the next 25 overs. Overall, we struggled as a bowling unit and we dropped many catches. That cost us. Our batters played well in the last two games, I hope they perform in the same way in the final. We have to adjust to these conditions, we can’t predict the toss. No pressure. We have to play our best game. We know India is a good team, but I want to play my best game in the final.”

Scores:

n South Africa Women 315-9 (50) (Laura Wolvaardt 33, Tazmin Brits 38, Annerie Dercksen 104, Chloe Tryon 74, Nadine de Klerk 32*, Dewmi Vihanga 5/43, Chamari Athapaththu 2/70)

n Sri Lanka Women 239 (42.5) (Hasini Perera 30, Vishmi Gunaratne 24, Harshitha Samarawickrama 33, Chamari Athapaththu 52, Anushka Sanjeewani 43*, Ayabonga Khaka 2/30, Chloe Tryon 5/34 including hat-trick)

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