SA ladies seal T20 series
Proteas' women captain Mignon du Preez led the team to its second consecutive T20 series victory after beating Sri Lanka by five wickets in Potchefstroom yesterday.
Du Preez and Sunette Loubser shared an unbeaten 65-run partnership to successfully chase down Sri Lanka's 109/6.
"It's been a really good few months for us and it's all due to the members of the team who have each taken on our plans and the direction that we want to take it," Du Preez said in a statement. "It's a great privilege to play with a bunch of girls who are keen to get the job done and want to play positive cricket, be positive influences on one another and build each other up."
Sri Lanka were restricted to the modest score after they were put in to bat by Du Preez.
Loubser produced a fine all-round performance when she made the initial breakthrough, removing Lasanthi Madushani in the first over and following that up by scoring an unbeaten 37 runs in her side's reply for the win.
The Sri Lankan top order struggled at the start of their innings. They lost Madushani, Chamari Atapattu and Yasoda Mendis for 10, zero and one respectively.
Captain Shashikala Siriwardena (21), shared a 70-run partnership with Eshani Kaushalya (50) to give their side a fighting chance.
They started out well with the ball when Maduri Samudikka got rid of Lizelle Lee in the second over without scoring.
Siriwardena took a wicket in each of the four overs she bowled, removing Trisha Chetty (13), Marizanne Kapp (7), Dane van Niekerk (6) and Chloe Tryon (1) to frustrate the hosts and forced the required run rate up.
Du Preez and Loubser entered the fray when South Africa were in a difficult position.
Loubser hit two sixes and a four to reach her 37 not out, while Du Preez smashed five boundaries (including the winning shot) to take her side all the way.
Loubser said she was pleased with her batting effort.
"This is only the second opportunity I've had to bat in the last few months because our batters have been in such good form," said Loubser. "Mignon really kept me calm and helped me enjoy the match. "It's really great for me to see that I've still got it at my age and I'm just really grateful to still be able to make a contribution to the team."
Meanwhile, Siriwardena was disappointed with the loss, but was happy to see good individual performances coming from her side.
"I'm happy with the individual performances. We are learning a lot, but we have to improve our game sense," said Siriwardena. "It is important to get a good start, that is where we are struggling, but we are taking back a lot of positives and we also have a new coach who is teaching us a lot of things, so we are fairly happy with the tour in the end."
(File photo:Gallo Images)
- Sapa