The Momentum Proteas bowed out of the World Twenty20 on a disappointing note after a poor batting collapse lead to a 10-run defeat against Sri Lanka in Bangalore on Monday.
In a televised match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the South Africans did a good job to restrict theSri Lankans to 114/7. Marizanne Kapp and Sune Luus grabbed two wickets apiece, despite Chamari Atapattu’s inspiring captains knock of 52 (49 balls, 5 fours, 1 six).
Medium-pacer Kapp picked up 2/17 in her four overs, while spinner Luus, the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, managed 2/20 in three overs as the Proteas women restricted their opponents excellently.
The second highest scorer after the Sri Lankan skipper was Prasadani Weerakkody with 15. However, the South African women let themselves down badly. They failed to cash in on their prolific start handed to them by openers Dane van Niekerk (24 off 31 balls) and Trisha Chetty (26 off 25).
Instead they found themselves coming up short on 104/7 after poor batting saw them lose 3 wickets for 2 runs and then 7 for 52 in total. Van Niekerk and Chetty put on 50 together in nine overs, before the former was run-out by the Atapattu and Weerakkody combination.
Captain Mignon du Preez was out for a four-ball duck, when she was trapped leg before wicket by her opposite number Atapattu, while Chetty fell the same way to Eshani Kaushalya – the first three wickets falling within the space of seven balls. Unfortunately that knocked the stuffing out of the South Africans, with the next best scorer being Kapp with 14.
It was disappointingly the third loss in four games for the Momentum Proteas as they ended the competition placed fourth in Group A. Du Preez admitted the batting let South Africas down.
“We had a good start but we lost it in the middle order,” she said. “We have been struggling with our batting in the whole tournament. This is something we need to work on and come back stronger.
“We have a strong batting line-up, we knew we could chase down the runs. But that did not happen.”