South Africa Women vs Sri Lanka Women, SA-W vs SL-W 2024, Today Match Prediction 27 March 2024

RSAW vs SLW Match Prediction & Analysis

Sri Lanka Women kick off their tour of South Africa with a T20I at Willowmoore Park in Benoni. The two teams last met in the Women’s T20I World Cup back in February of 2023 where Sri Lanka Women beat the hosts by 3 runs.

South Africa Women went on to be the runners-up in that tournament. A few months later, Sri Lanka Women toured England and beat the hosts by 2-1 in the T20I series.

They were also the runners-up in the Asian Games at Hangzhou in September of 2023 which was the last time they played a T20 international. And while South Africa Women recently played Women’s African Games 2024 where they tied in the Final, it wasn’t their usual squad. 

Their full-strength squad toured Australia earlier this year where they lost the T20I series 1-2. Laura Wolvaardt will be expecting a comeback from her players at home and begin the series on a winning note.

Sri Lanka have some quality bowlers in their squad and they will back themselves to put the hosts on the back foot once again.

RECENT PERFORMANCE

RSAW

L W L W L

AUSW

166/5 in 19.2 8.59

AUS-W vs RSA-W 2024

Australia beat South Africa by 5 wickets 30 Jan 2024

RSAW

162/7 in 20.0 8.1

AUSW

142/6 in 20.0 7.1

AUS-W vs RSA-W 2024

South Africa beat Australia by 6 wickets 28 Jan 2024

RSAW

144/4 in 19.0 7.58

AUSW

149/2 in 19.1 7.77

AUS-W vs RSA-W 2024

Australia beat South Africa by 8 wickets 27 Jan 2024

RSAW

147/6 in 20.0 7.35

RSAW

95/2 in 15.2 6.2

BD-W vs SA-W 2023

South Africa beat Bangladesh by 8 wickets 08 Dec 2023

BANW

94/6 in 20.0 4.7

RSAW

136/8 in 20.0 6.8

BD-W vs SA-W 2023

Bangladesh Women won by 13 runs 03 Dec 2023

BANW

149/2 in 20.0 7.45

SLW

W W L W W

ENGW

116/10 in 19.0 6.11

ENGW vs SLW

06 Sep 2023

SLW

117/3 in 17.0 6.88

ENGW

104/10 in 18.0 5.78

ENGW vs SLW

Sri Lanka Women won by 8 wickets 02 Sep 2023

SLW

110/2 in 13.2 8.25

ENGW

186/4 in 17.0 10.94

ENGW vs SLW

England Women beat Sri Lanka Women by 12 runs 31 Aug 2023

SLW

55/3 in 6.0 9.17

SLW

158/3 in 20.0 7.9

SLW vs BANW

Sri Lanka Women won by 44 runs

12 May 2023

BANW

114/7 in 20.0 5.7

SLW

101/3 in 18.3 5.46

SLW vs BANW

Sri Lanka Women won by 7 wickets

11 May 2023

BANW

100/10 in 18.3 5.41

HEAD TO HEAD

TEAMS PREVIEW

South Africa Women Preview

South Africa Women need to gear themselves up for the Sri Lankan bowling challenge. Last year, they failed to chase a small target of 130 runs at Newlands as Sri Lanka’s Inoka Ranaweera got through the top order quickly.

At the time of writing this article, the visitors haven’t yet announced their squad for the series. However, we reckon they will feature their most consistently performing bowlers and that will be a tough challenge for the hosts.

Laura Wolvaardt played the key role in South Africa’s last T20I win that came against Australia while chasing a 143-run target at the Manuka Oval. That was the only match South Africa Women won in that 3-match series.

Tamzin Brits and Marizanne Kapp were the other batters to score a half-century in that series. South Africa lacked a team effort as far as their batting was concerned and only one or two batters managed to get going at a time.

Sune Luus is a key player in the middle-order and will be expected to deliver against Sri Lanka in this series. In addition, there are also batting all-rounders who add strength and depth to this batting lineup such as Nadine de Klerk and Anneke Bosch.

Wolvaardt and Brits need to navigate the left-arm pacer Udeshika Prabodhani early in the powerplay and avoid exposing their middle order early in the innings. 

Masabata Klaas and Nonkululeko Mlaba will be the key bowlers for South Africa in addition to the all-rounders Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk.

South Africa Women Predicted Playing XI:

Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, Anneke Bosch, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Nonkululeko Mlaba, Masabata Klaas, Ayabonga Khaka

South Africa Women Actual Playing XI:

Laura Wolvaardt, Annerie Dercksen, Nadine de Klerk, Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon, Tazmin Brits, Sinalo Jafta, Masabata Klaas, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nonkululeko Mlaba

Sri Lanka Women Preview

Sri Lanka Women are all set for yet another tour. They will be confident coming to South Africa considering their recent performances in the Asian Games and their tour of England.

Though it has been almost 6 months since they played a T20 international, the visitors can still deliver an impactful performance, especially with the ball. They need to bring all of their key bowlers on this tour.

Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera, and Oshadi Ranasinghe are among the regulars who’ve been influential in this bowling attack. They were also among the best performers in Sri Lanka’s win over South Africa in the T20 World Cup.

Recently, left-arm medium pacer Prabodhani has emerged as a consistent bowler for Sri Lanka. She was impressive against giants like India and England.

Batting all-rounder and skipper Chamari Atthapaththu is another crucial bowling figure in this attack. She can deliver breakthroughs and run through the overs quickly while drying up the runs.

Bowling is Sri Lanka’s biggest strength and they will back themselves to trouble South African batters. Chamari Atthapathuthu plays many roles for the team and is truly a match-winner.

She’s the opening batter and has been quite consistent at the top. Her strike rates are also impressive and she needs her opening partner Anushka Sanjeevani to her well.

Though the batting performances weren’t great in Hangzhou, we put it down to a poor pitch. Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, and Hasini Perera are the key figures in the middle order of this lineup.

Though they’ve been able to contribute in the middle, none of them has appeared threatening with their strike rates. As a result, a lot depends on the opening duo and particularly on the skipper in the batting department.

Sri Lanka Women Predicted Playing XI:

Chamari Athapaththu (c), Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Hasini Perera, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoshi Priyadharshani

Sri Lanka Women Actual Playing XI:

Harshitha Madavi, Hasini Perera, Nilakshi de Silva, Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Atapattu, Kavisha Dilhari, Anushka Sanjeewani, Achini Kulasuriya, Inoka Ranaweera, Inoshi Fernando, Udeshika Prabodhani

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The pitch offers help for the spinners and Sri Lanka Women would be quite happy with that. There isn’t as much help for the batters and they will pose a tough challenge as the game progresses. The weather will be mostly cloudy with a high of 24 degrees Celsius in Benoni on the match day.

RSAW vs SLW Pitch Report

Willowmoore Park in Benoni will be the venue for the 1st T20I of the 3-match series between South Africa Women and Sri Lanka Women. The average 1st innings score here in the 3 T20Is played so far is 149 runs. We reckon anything above 150 in the 1st innings should be a match-winning total at this venue.

Toss: To Bowl

Teams bowling first have won 2 of the 3 Women’s T20Is at this venue. It seems like a bowling-friendly ground and chasing a par score can be a winning strategy, especially for Sri Lanka.