The second ODI in the series takes place at Kimberley’s Diamond Oval on Saturday, with the day-night encounter starting at 2pm.
Tazmin Brits showcased her batting prowess with her second career hundred for the Proteas Women as the first ICC Women’s Championship (2022-25) One-Day International (ODI) against Sri Lanka was abandoned due to persistent rain in East London on Tuesday.
Brits led the charge with a commanding 116 off 128 balls, including 12 fours, guiding South Africa to 270/6 after 50 overs before rain intervened in the seventh over of Sri Lanka’s innings, resulting in a no-result.
MATCH ABANDONED 😢
The first IWC ODI between the Proteas Women and Sri Lanka has been called off due to persistent rain in East London🌧️
The 2️⃣ teams will share the IWC points 🇿🇦🇱🇰#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #SAWvSRIW pic.twitter.com/vOU9YS82ws
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) April 9, 2024
Despite their deflating loss in the T20I series against the tourists, Proteas Women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt was optimistic her side could rebound strongly in the ODIs.
On Monday, Wolvaardt said that the Proteas had improved a lot on their powerplay and the death overs, and that they had retouched their ODI framework and blueprint.
For the Proteas, ODIs have been their stronger format for the last couple of months, and similar to the T20I record between the two sides, South Africa maintains a stronghold over Sri Lanka when it comes to head-to-head battles, with the hosts winning 14 of the previous 20 ODI encounters, along with two no results and four wins for Sri Lanka.
In the latest ICC Women’s Championship points table as part of the qualification pathway for the Cricket World Cup 2025 in India, the Proteas Women occupy second place with 20 points after earning 10 wins out of 15 matches while Sri Lanka sits third from bottom with 11 points from 15 games.
Despite SA holding a favourable position in the standings, Wolvaardt – before Wednesday’s no-result in East London – emphasised the importance of securing points in every match.
“Very important. We find ourselves in quite a good position on that log. But we still have a couple of tough series lying ahead of us, so every point that we can secure is good. It’s a massive series, Sri Lanka are a really good side and they showed that in the T20I series by putting up some good performances.
“We’ll have to be at our best to try and secure as many points as we can,” the 24-year-old skipper said.
The second ODI in the series takes place at Kimberley’s Diamond Oval on Saturday, with the day-night encounter starting at 2pm.
