South Africa beat Sri Lanka and almost more impressively the dreadful weather in Colombo to keep their journey to the semifinals of the World Cup on track.
The Proteas successfully chased a Duckworth/Lewis/Stern revised target of 121, in a match in which both teams’ innings’ were reduced to 20 overs, without losing a wicket.
Laura Wolvaardt scored her 37th half-century, ending on 60 off 47 balls, and her opening partner Tazmin Brits made 55, blasting a six over midwicket to seal victory.
Having struggled as a combination in the competition, Friday’s partnership — worth 125 runs — was comfortably their best and will have instilled more confidence as the tournament heads into its final fortnight.
There were plenty of nerves and Wolvaardt admitted frustration for the Proteas, as they sat through a more than five-hour rain delay, which halted Sri Lanka’s innings after 12 overs.
The weather had forced the abandonment of the last two matches in Colombo and with South Africa also facing Pakistan at the Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday — with rain again forecast — there was a danger that the Proteas would have to beat the all-conquering Australians in their final round-robin match next Saturday to reach the play-off stage.
The home team chose to bat after winning the toss, but lost two wickets before the rain came, with Masabatha Klaas first producing a lovely delivery that beat left-hander Hasini Perera’s bat and crashed into her off-stump.
In her next over Klaas got the ball to move into Chamari Athapaththu — another left-hander — trapping the Sri Lankan captain lbw for 11.
The drizzle which had started in the eighth over of the match, grew gradually heavier and after 12 overs, with Sri Lanka on 46/2, the players were forced into the changeroom.
With the match reduced Sri Lanka had eight overs to bat and initially the Proteas struggled, the bowlers battled to control the wet ball and the fielders found it hard to hold onto it — “it was like a bar of soap,” said Wolvaardt.
But Nadine de Klerk and Nonkululeko Mlaba, found their range in the last two overs, restricting Sri Lanka to just seven runs and ensuring that the revised target for the Proteas wouldn’t be above 130.
“It was very tough, the seam was wet and I was struggling to grip the ball,” said Mlaba, who finished with 3/30.
Wolvaardt and Brits employed T20 tactics when they batted, ensuring they got ahead of the required rate early, and coasting to a win with 31 balls to spare hitting a combined 12 fours and two sixes.
“It was tough in the field, but the ball actually came on nicely when we batted. I just wanted us to avoid another close finish,” said Wolvaardt, who was named player of the match.
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