Women's T20 World Cup: Athapaththu inspires Lanka's stunning win over S Africa

Captain Chamari Athapaththu starred with the bat as Sri Lanka produced an inspiring performance to stun hosts South Africa by three runs in the opening match of the ICC Womens T20 World Cup at Newlands hereAthapaththu led from the front with a 50ball 68 12x4 Sri Lankas highestever individual score at the showpiece event on Friday nightHaving set South Africa 130 to win Sri Lankan spinners took control with guile and discipline to restrict the hosts for 126 for nine It was Sri Lankas first T20I victory over South Africa since 2016The islanders made a slow start scoring just four runs out of the first three overs but Athapaththu broke the shackles soon with backtoback fours off Nonkululeko MlabaOpener Harshitha Samarawickramas struggle came to an end when she chipped Nadine de Klerk to midwicket to depart for eight from 20 ballsDespite the fall of wicket Athapaththu continued her attacking game and hit De Klerk for five boundaries in nine ballsSeventeenyearold Vishmi Gunaratne took time to settle but matched her skippers stroke play lapsweeping Mlaba to the rope and then hacking Shabnim Ismail for three foursAlso Read Womens T20 World Cup Australia aim for recordextending 6th trophy India eye maiden titleAthapaththu and Gunaratne 35 off 34b 4x4 put on 86 for the second wicket Sri Lankas highest partnership for any wicket at the T20 World Cup to lay the base for the teams totalBut just when they were looking dangerous the duo departed abruptly in successive ballsGunaratne was run out by Tazmin Brits for 35 before Athapaththu perished to long leg for a superb 68 to leave her side on 114 for threeIsmail yorked Nilakshi de Silva in the penultimate over to slow down Sri Lanka with Marizanne Kapp conceding only five from the last overIn reply South Africa were off to a steady start to their chase and opener Tazmin Brits was struck on the helmet by the fifth ball of the innings forcing the opener to pass concussion tests twiceOffspinner Oshadi Ranasinghe bowled four dot balls in the penultimate over of powerplay putting pressure on Brits who was caught at extra cover for 12Kapp 11 offered stability but Sri Lanka claimed the Proteas prized scalp in the eighth over when she was holed out to De Silva at long leg off Inoka RanaweeraRanaweera struck again when Laura Wolvaardt 18 topedged a sweep which was caught by RanasingheChloe Tryon 10 curbed her natural attacking game early on but mistimed a legside slog to be holed out to De SilvaLeftarm spinner Sugandika Kumari struck once more in the same over when Anneke Bosch played on leaving South Africa tottering at 72 for five as Proteas captain Sune Luus 28 remained stranded at one endIt was 95 for 6 soon when Nadine de Klerk was caught by De SilvaRanaweera got the vital wicket of Luus in the penultimate over stumped by wicketkeeper Anushka SanjeewaniSinalo Jafta and Ismail were both run out in the closing stages as South Africa fell shortBrief ScoresSri Lanka 129 for four in 20 overs Chamari Athapaththu 68 Vishmi Gunaratne 35 Nadine De Klerk 138 Marizanne Kapp 115 beat South Africa 126 for nine in 20 overs Sune Luus 28 Laura Wolvaardt 18 Inoka Ranaweera 318 Oshadi Ranasinghe 220 by three runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever