Sri Lanka defeated
South Africa by seven wickets in Potchefstroom to tie the three-match series,
and eighteen-year-old Vishmi Gunaratne struck her first T20I half-century.
After South Africa chose to bat first under stand-in captain Nadine de Klerk,
Gunaratne and Kavisha Dilhari established an undefeated fourth-wicket stand of
76 off 46 balls to successfully chase 138. The fourth-highest successful chase
in Sri Lanka was this one.
Due to illness,
usual captain Laura Wolvaardt—who also happened to be the match-winning
centurion from the first game—was unable to participate, but Anneke Bosch
filled in admirably. Marizanne Kapp provided her great support as she hit 50
off 32 balls and put up 58 for the second wicket with her. Bosch was removed in
the tenth over with South Africa at 84 for 1, which precipitated a collapse.
For 47 runs, they lost the next seven wickets.
With 1 for 18 and an
economy of 4.50, Sri Lanka’s captain Chamari Athapaththu initiated the squeeze,
and seamer Achini Kulasuriya drove home the point with 2 for 26. The fact that
they were run out three times in their innings and that de Klerk was the only
player outside the top three to reach double digits will worry South Africa.
Athapaththu, who performed better with the ball than the bat, removed
16-year-old debutante Karabo Meso for a second-ball duck. Meso was a member of
the Africa Games team that won the silver medal in Accra earlier this month.
After five overs,
Athapaththu was caught behind by Meso off Tumi Sekhukhune for six, putting Sri
Lanka in early difficulties at 25 for 1. With Sri Lanka still 82 runs from
victory, South Africa applied more pressure through Chloe Tryon, who gave up
just 4.66 runs per over. At the midway point, Tryon bowled Harshita
Samarawickrama.
In addition,
Gunaratne witnessed the veteran No. 4 Hasini Perera bowled for just one run,
but she managed to hold her own and hit eight fours en route to 50 off 52
balls, putting Sri Lanka just one wicket away from victory. Off what proved to
be the penultimate ball of the contest, she proceeded to add another four and
the only six of the Sri Lankan innings. With 19 overs remaining, Sri Lanka
achieved the target, levelling the series at 1-1 before Wednesday’s decider in
East London.