Sri Lanka VS South Africa Venue: R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (Sri Lanka)
India VS South Africa Date: Friday, May 9
BetXchange India VS South Africa Odds:
History
South Africa has one last chance to land a blow in its Women’s Tri-Series competition, where the Proteas have faced India and Sri Lanka.
This event is a double-round robin in Sri Lanka, which acts as a standalone comp and preparation for the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup in India later this year. All matches are played in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s executive capital, and in the ODI format.
It has been an incredibly frustrating series of matches for South Africa. The Proteas have already been eliminated, having lost all three of their contests so far. India and Sri Lanka are guaranteed to meet in the final, with India winning three of their four matches to finish on six points and Sri Lanka winning two of three before Friday’s clash.
This makes this match a dead rubber, though South Africa will not want to return home winless.
It is always tough to say a team has deserved more, but South Africa haven’t just been making up the numbers in Sri Lanka. They have two top-four run scorers in the Tri-Series, with Annerie Dercksen (172 runs) and Tazmin Brits (149 runs) outscoring any Sri Lankan player. Dercksen will top score in the group stage if she clears 29 runs tomorrow. Nonkululeko Mlaba is also the second leading wicket-taker with six scalps.
The Proteas have lost to India twice, first by 15 runs and then by 23 runs while chasing Indian totals. Scores of 261 and 314 would win many an ODI, but in this series, the scoring has been high throughout.
Sri Lanka
In the first match of this Tri-Series between Sri Lanka and South Africa, Harshitha Samarawickrama and Kavisga Dilhari put on a show. They combined for 128 runs during their partnership, the highest score for the fourth wicket in Sri Lanka’s Women’s ODI history.
They also got four wickets from the impressive Malki Madara in her 10 overs.
South Africa
Sri Lanka’s win over South Africa was just their sixth in 24 games against the Proteas. South Africa has won 15 matches, with three ending without a result.
Dercksen scored her first ODI half-century against Sri Lanka in the first match between the teams, and I would like her to star again here.
Best Bets
This is a batting first wicket, and South Africa should elect to strike first if they win the toss. The wicket is slower than typical, and chasing down targets has proven difficult as the pitch cuts up and the grip increases.
Expect spin to be more critical than pure pace in the bowling stakes. Dewmi Vihanga used her offspin brilliantly last time these two played, taking three wickets on her ODI debut. I like her as the top bowler at a very attractive 6-1.
South Africa will win this outright. A few different bounces would have put them in a position where the winner of this makes the final, but they will have to settle for returning home on the back of a morale-boosting win.
