Gritty Wolvaardt guides Proteas to comfortable win in second ODI

South Africa’s captain Laura Wolvaardt notched up a sixth ODI century as her side claimed a comfortable seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka in Kimberley on Saturday night. 

Wolvaardt again underlined her importance to the Proteas and her own increasing confidence as captain with a composed innings, which saw her finish on 110 not out as her team reached a modest target of 230 with 14 balls to spare. 

She and Marizanne Kapp shared a partnership of 147 for the fourth wicket, with Kapp scoring an unbeaten 80 off 84 balls, a knock that included seven fours and gave the home team’s innings a much-needed boost.

Wolvaardt, who was given a life in the first over, when she was dropped before she’d scored by Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper Anushka Sanjeewani, hit six fours in her innings, and despite obvious frustration at the number of times she found fielders, with many of her crisp drives, her running between the wickets ensured SA kept the scoreboard ticking. 

Sri Lanka had picked up the wickets of Lara Goodall and Delmari Tucker, to give themselves an early lift, before a partnership of 59 between Wolvaardt and Sune Luus for the third wicket, stabilised the innings. 

Goodall took the place of Tazmin Brits at the top of the order when the big hitting right hander was forced out of the series after an MRI scan revealed a meniscus tear in her left knee and a sprained medial collateral ligament.

She will undergo surgery next week before commencing her rehabilitation plan.

Tucker replaced Anneke Bosch who missed Saturday’s match with a mild concussion, after she was struck on the head at training on Friday. 

SA were erratic in the field, and inconsistent with the ball, but still restricted Sri Lanka to what felt like a middling total — 229 all out.

Chamari Athapaththu, playing in her 100th ODI, top scored for the tourists with 51, an innings filled with typically powerful shots through the offside.

Kavisha Dilhari and Nilakshika Silva weighed in with 42 and 36 respectively, knocks which gave the Sri Lankan innings much needed impetus. 

However the sluggishness from the dry surface, along with the disconcertingly low bounce and the inability of their other batters to locate the boundary, meant Sri Lanka weren’t able to put the Proteas under significant pressure. 

The home team would not have been completely pleased with their performance, particularly the ground fielding, which lacked accuracy.

Simple balls were missed, approaches to the ball by boundary fielders were slow and cutting off angles was poor as well. Kavisha was also dropped at slip by Luus when she had seven. 

Ayabonga Khaka and Nadine de Klerk were the most successful bowlers for the hosts with each picking up three wickets. Skipper Wolvaardt made a number of changes, attempting to rob the Sri Lankan batters of rhythm and it was notable that none of the SA bowlers completed their full complement of 10 overs.