26 Jan SA U19 End World Cup Campaign With A Win Over Sri Lanka
JOHANNESBURG: SA U19 Women ended their ICC U19 Women’s T20 World on a high with nail- biting one-run win over Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first, the team was looking at posting a tight score that would allow them to advance to the semi-finals.
Maine Smit opened the batting line up for the first time alongside Simone Lourens starting in a good manner converting every delivery into runs until the fourth over when the pair was dismissed. Kayla Reyneke and Madison Landsman were on the pressure to build their partnership on the pitch and utilize the powerplay to their advantage.
Sri Lanka strengthened their fielding resulting in dot balls for the batters and not turning 1s into 2s. Landsman attempted to aim at the boundary and was dismally caught by Nethranjali departing at 21 runs from 12 balls. Halfway through the match SA U19 were on 72/3.
Reyneke kept her survival mode on the crease going. On the 10th over Jenna Evans on strike scored brilliant 13 runs with three boundaries. The batters applied pressure back to Sri Lanka, and Evans’ forward push landed into Rathnayake’s hands and she went out for (22 off 15).
The team concluded their 20 overs on a score of 134 with Reyneke on 43 runs off 49 balls and was awarded player of the match for the second time in the tournament.
Few changes to the Proteas bowling line up saw Monalisa Legodi and Refilwe Moncho take on the attack to restrict Sri Lanka. Smit took the first over ending in a maiden, delivering 16 dots in her spell and taking down a single wicket. The fielding was intact in the first few overs, Legodi striking with a run out and giving the team their first wicket.
Loopholes created on fielding gave Sri Lanka the advantage to score more runs, SA were not able to restrict the opposition to scoring under 100, on the 17th over Sri Lanka were determined to end their innings early and smashed 18 runs. The last over was thrilling as Sri Lanka needed 12 runs from 6 balls to win, two wickets fell down and their score was not enough to grant them a win. South Africa won by 1 run, and it was the end of the journey for the hosts as net run rate was not sufficient to move into the next stage.
ICC U19 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP SUPER 6 FIXTURES- POTCHEFSTROOM
Saturday, 21 January 2023 @13:45: South Africa U19W vs Bangladesh U19W – JB Marks Oval- South Africa won by 5 wickets
Tuesday, 24 January 2023 @ 13h45: South Africa U19W vs Sri Lanka U19W- North West University Oval- South Africa won by 1 run.
ENDS
Issued by: Cricket South Africa – Corporate Communications
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