Proteas Women stumble at the first hurdle

That was not the start the host nation wanted.

There were nerves which led to poor execution, bad judgment and ultimately defeat for South Africa.

This was not in the script.

Everything else had been written to order, fine weather, a big crowd — though still many empty seats at Newlands — a lively opening show and lots of smiles, on the field among the players and in the stands. 

By 10.15pm, those who could, offered sporting applause for the courageous Sri Lankans who prevailed thanks to their assertiveness with the bat and a never-say-die attitude in the field.

For the Proteas, the path to a semifinal is now very tricky.  

Theirs was a performance laced with errors, particularly with the bat, but also a lot in the field and with the ball, which may have been the result of nerves.

The tension was understandable. Nonkululeko Mlaba, recently elevated to the No.2 spot on the bowling rankings in the T20 format, couldn’t find the right line or length and conceded 10 runs in her first over.

Nadine de Klerk succumbed to the pressure created by Chamari Athapaththu and the impressive Vishmi Gunaratne. 

Those two gave the Sri Lankan innings impetus after they too had started nervously scoring just 38 runs in the power play. 

Gunaratne, the leading run-scorer for Sri Lanka at the recent under-19 World Cup looks a very fine player. 

The 17-year-old brought intent  from the moment she arrived at the crease and it rubbed off on her captain.

It wasn’t the boundaries initially, just the willingness to run better between the wickets which transferred pressure onto the home team. 

That drew errors from the bowlers with first De Klerk and then Shabnim Ismail, both conceding a hat-trick of boundaries in separate overs, amid a period in which the Sri Lankans dominated.

They scored at comfortably above nine runs an over between the eighth and 16th overs, with the South Africans looking ragged in the field.

Sri Lanka were comfortably set for a total in the region of 150 thanks to that second wicket stand of 86, but then, almost out of nothing, Tazmin Brits produced a moment of brilliance in the field, swooping in from cover and in one movement picking up, throwing and hitting the stumps to dismiss Gunaratne for 35.

Athapaththu hit 12 boundaries, with some typically elegant strokes through the offside in her 68, but her dismissal, the ball after Gunaratne’s, allowed South Africa to regain control. 

The Proteas should have chased 130 comfortably. However a lack of clear thinking and the inability to create partnerships proved costly.

Sune Luus top scored with 28, and Laura Wolvaardt made 22, but there was nothing of substance from the South African batters. 

The Sri Lankans didn’t necessarily produce anything special with the ball other than bowling straight lines and their fielding was comical at times.

But they were spirited and once they noticed that the Proteas had allowed their nerves to get the better of them when they batted, they pounced, eventually running away winners by three runs. 

South Africa face New Zealand in Paarl in their next match on Monday.  

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