The T20 Womens World Cup started with a shock result as hosts South Africa were beaten by outsiders Sri Lanka in front of a 8,402 strong crowd at Newlands in Cape Town. This 8402 attendance was so far the biggest one for a game involving the Proteas ladies in South Africa (albeit comfortably lower than the crowd for the SA20 opener at the same venue last month).
Sri Lanka’s innings owed a lot to Chamari Athapaththu- easily the country’s best batter. She made 68 (50)- more than half of the side’s runs, on her own, and her strong performance in the middle overs laid the foundation for this big upset in Cape Town. South Africa, who had beaten India in a tri-series final a few days ago, were sluggish in their own middle overs (44 between 7-15 compared to the 63 scored by SLW), and despite some frantic hitting at the end, ended three runs short. The Proteas ladies probably missed the experience of Dane van Niekerk- omitted from the squad due to fitness reasons. Given that the group also consists of Australia and New Zealand, the hosts’ campaign is probably as good as over at this early stage of the tournament- Sri Lanka were a team everyone expected to beat.
The Proteas ladies only won that India game due to Tryon.
This team is actually poor. Wolvaardt has gone off the boil, and Brits is no Lizelle Lee.
Very heavily dependent on Tryon and all rounder Kapp in the batting department. Not really a modern T20 outfit.