Sri Lanka broke a world record in Potchefstroom on Wednesday night to beat the Proteas Women by six-wickets to win the final third and final One-Day International.

The team from the subcontinent recorded the highest-ever run chase in women’s ODI cricket to level the three-match series and share the soils.

South Africa lost the toss and were invited to have a bat first and scored 301/5 in their 50-overs with the captain Laura Wolvaardt scoring a career-best 184 not out. Wolvaardt struck 23 fours and four sixes to record what briefly stood as the fourth highest individual score by a batter in Women’s ODI’s and is the highest-ever by a South African.

Marizanne Kapp chipped in with 36-runs, while Nadine de Klerk scored 35, and Lara Goodall 31.

Kavisha Dilhari was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers with 47/2 in her 10-overs.

In reply, Sri Lanka chased down the world record target in just 44.3 overs with their captain Chamari Athapaththu scoring 195 not out to lead her to the series-levelling win. Athapaththu was ruthless with the bat, albeit she was dropped twice, as she hit 29 fours and five sixes to steer her side to victory.

One cannot overstate the importance of the career-best 50 not out by Nilakshika Silva in supporting her captain as the pair put on an unbeaten 179-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

Ayabonga Khaka, who played in her 100th ODI, was the pick of the Proteas bowlers with 2/54 in 8-overs, while given the circumstances the left-arm spinner, Nonkululeko Mlaba, was brilliant with her 0/36 in 7-overs.

Wolvaardt said it was a tough toss to lose on a pitch that began an absolute belter under the lights.

“It was nice to chase on that wicket, the ball came on really nicely under the lights,” said Wolvaardt.

“Chamari batted excellently and she had a few half-chances as well. We put down one or two chances and we also missed a couple of run-outs.

“There were a lot of small moments and I think if we got around that it would have been game-on. 

“She just kept batting and smoking us and it was hard to stop her today.”

While the Proteas certainly missed the experienced Chloe Tryon and Tazmin Brits through injury, a real concern for the team is that the next players in-line after are just not quite up to the standard they should be. In addition, the form of one or two of the seasoned players is also somewhat of a concern.

Wolvaardt was named as the player of the series for her 335-runs

Morgan Piek OFM Sport